It's on the birth certificate Cher was "shocked" when she found out her real name
In her memoirs, Cher recalls the moment she held her birth certificate in her hands to change her name. Shock for the singer: her name was actually different from what she had always thought.
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- When Cher applied for her birth certificate in 1979, she discovered that her name was not Cherilyn as she had thought.
- The name mistake was apparently made at birth when her mother was still in pain.
- Cher had her name officially changed, shortening it to Cher and deleting the surnames of her father, stepfather and ex-husbands.
When she took a look at her birth certificate, Cher (78) was initially "shocked", as she describes it in her biography "Cher: The Memoir, Part One". Pop icon Cher has divided the story of her eventful life into two volumes. The first part is now on the market in the USA and is due to be published in German in February.
As People magazine writes, Cher recalls the moment in her book when she asked for a copy of her birth certificate in 1979. The singer needed this in order to officially change her name.
She believed her full name had been Cherilyn from birth, but then it suddenly read Cheryl on the paper and Cher was confused.
When she asked her mother, Georgia Holt (1926-2022), about it, she replied: "I was still a teenager and in a lot of pain. Give me a break."
Cher, Cherilyn or Cheryl?
Holt was 19 when she went into labor and gave birth to little Cher on May 20, 1946. "She was exhausted when I arrived," says Cher in her biography.
The name misunderstanding was quickly cleared up. The music legend writes that while her mother was recovering, a nurse came by and asked her for the newborn's name. "My mother had no idea, but the woman insisted, so she replied, 'Well, Lana Turner is my favorite actress and her baby girl's name is Cheryl. My mom's name is Lynda, so how about Cherilyn?"
Holt apparently didn't notice the mistake that crept in. It wasn't until all these years later, when Cher applied for her birth certificate, that it was noticed.
The "Moonstruck" actress then contacted her mother and pointed out the mistake to her. She asked her mother: "Do you even know my real name?"
She then tore the paper out of her hand. When she looked at it, she is said to have simply shrugged her shoulders.
Cher had her name officially changed in 1979. Her first name was shortened and her four surnames were dropped. She had previously borne the surname of her father, John Sarkisian, that of her stepfather, Gilbert Hartmann LaPiere, and those of her two ex-husbands, Sonny Bono and Gregg Allman.