Cher has revealed she was “shocked” to learn her real name after discovering there was a mix-up with her birth certificate at the hospital when she was born.
In her new memoir, “Cher: The Memoir, Part One,” the “Believe” hitmaker said she was under the impression that her real name was Cherilyn for years — until she finally went to change her legal name to Cher.
“I believed Cherilyn was my name,” the 78-year-old wrote, “until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to simply Cher.”
The “If I Could Turn Back Time” singer said that after her mother, Georgia Holt, gave birth to her in 1946, a nurse had asked what moniker she had landed on for the 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 had later changed her legal name to simply Cher in the late 1970s, dropping her last name Sarkisian.
“I was shocked to discover that I was officially registered as Cheryl, and asked my mother, ‘Do you even known my real name, mom?’”
Holt, who gave birth to the singer at age 19, said, “Let me look at that,” before adding, “I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break.”
In 1979, the “Strong Enough” hitmaker had shared the reason behind her decision to change her legal name to match her stage name.
“I like it,” she told Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” at the time. “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.”
“I mean, ‘Cher’ is just fine. Just plain ‘Cher,’” she added.
It comes after Cher revealed that actor Val Kilmer was one of the only celebrities who had ever broken up with her.
During an appearance on SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” this week, the legendary singer opened up about her past romances, when Stern had asked if any of her exes had ever left her.
“Few men, few men,” she responded. “Look, I was madly in love with Val Kilmer and he left.”
The singer dated the “Top Secret” actor from 1982 to 1984. Kilmer, now 64, was 13 years Cher’s junior — which was a big topic of discussion at the time.
When asked why Kilmer called it quits on their relationship, Cher said “he was really young.”
“Because sometimes you’re only meant to stay with someone so long,” she added.