Originally appeared on E! Online
Do you believe Cher isn't Cher's birth name — and that she only found out what it was as an adult?
The pop icon has shared how she discovered that the name she thought for years her mother named her as a baby was not the one that actually appears on her birth certificate.
"I believed Cherilyn was my name," the 78-year-old wrote in her autobiography, "Cher: The Memoir, Part One," released Nov. 19 and obtained by E! News, "until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to simply Cher."
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The "Believe" singer said in her book that after her mother Georgia Holt gave birth to her in 1946, a nurse visited her room and asked what she planned to name her baby.
"My mother had no idea, but the woman insisted so she replied, 'Well, Lana Turner's my favorite actress and her little girl's called Cheryl. My mother's name is Lynda, so how about Cherilyn?'"
The Grammy winner changed her legal full name to Cher in the late '70s, dropping her four surnames — her birth name Sarkisian, plus the last names of her stepfather Gilbert LaPiere and ex-husbands Sonny Bono and Gregg Allman. As part of the process, she needed to first obtain her birth certificate.
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"I was shocked to discover that I was officially registered as Cheryl," Cher wrote in her memoir, "and asked my mother, 'Do you even known my real name, Mom?'"
She said Holt, who gave birth to her at age 19, responded, "Let me look at that!" and, recalling her postpartum experience, added, "I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break."
The "If I Could Turn Back Time" singer had shared the reason behind her decision to change her legal name to Cher in 1979.
"I like it," Cher told Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show." "It's better for me than having people wonder if they should call me Mrs. Allman or Mrs. Bono or Mrs. Bono Allman or Miss Cher or whatever."
The "Strong Enough" singer continued, "I mean, 'Cher' is just fine. Just plain 'Cher.'"
