Cher didn’t know her real name for decades after birth certificate mix up

Gabriel Negreanu

Globally recognised pop icon Cher has told how, for decades, she didn’t know her real name. The singer was under the impression she was born Cherilyn Sarkisian until her 30s. However, in her new memoir, she has revealed a mistake on her birth certificate and that her real name is simply Cheryl. In her new book, Cher: The Memoir, Part One , the 78-year-old recalls the discovery as an unsettling shock in 1979 as she underwent the legal process to officially change her name. “I believed Cherilyn