Cher Didn't Know Her Real Name For Over 30 Years

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We have only ever known her as Cher. Well, some know her as the Goddess of Pop, others call her the Queen of Camp, but — like Madonna or Sting — Cher's public persona has never come with a last name. However, before the "Believe" hitmaker legally changed her name to her stage moniker, she was Cherilyn Sarkisian, the daughter of John Sarkisian and Georgia Holt; at least, that's what she was called all her life. However, after 33 years of going by Cherilyn, the singer uncovered a shocking truth about her real name.

Opening up about the 1979 name-changing process in her 2024 memoir "Cher: Part One: The Memoir," Cher said she discovered that her legal name was Cheryl, not Cherilyn. "When I applied for my birth certificate, I was shocked to find that I was officially registered as Cheryl," she wrote. When she asked her mother about it, Holt said: "'I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break.'" Her mother did intend to name her Cherilyn, but there was a miscommunication at the hospital when she gave birth to Cher in 1946. Per Cher's telling, Holt wanted to name her after a combination of Golden Age Hollywood actor Lana Turner's daughter Cheryl Crane and her own mother, Cher's grandmother, Lynda. So, she came up with Cherilyn. 

Nonetheless, the name saga was a moot point by the time she uncovered the truth, as she was already geared up to ditch her full moniker and legally become just Cher. The "Burlesque" star revealed on a 1979 episode of "The Tonight Show" that the single-name identity made it much less confusing for people trying to address her. While her full name was Cherilyn (Cheryl, legally) Sarkisian, she added LaPiere to her surname after her step-father, Gilbert Hartmann LaPiere, adopted her and her sister. Bono and Allman were added to her name after her marriage to Sonny Bono and her lightning-fast relationship with Gregg Allman.

"I like it," she told Johnny Carson about just being called Cher. "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." She added: "Just plain Cher. That's what's underneath." In 2023, she told CNBC that her iconic musical persona had nothing to do with the name change. Her family had always recognized her as Cher and she simply wanted to let go of her famous relationship history. "The judge [in her name-change hearing] said, 'Well, could you be recognized by the majority of people by Cher?'" The answer is obvious now.