Cher didn't know what her real name was: What is it and how did she find out?

Music legend Cher has revealed she spent years without knowing what her actual name is as she believed she was called Cherilyn, only to later discover her birth certificate recorded her name as Cheryl when she went to change it.

The 78-year-old singer, model and cultural icon revealed the news in her memoir, which was released on November 19, and discovered her true name in 1979 when she amended it via deed poll and dropped the surnames of her dad, stepdad and former husbands.

According to her mother, who was a teenager at the time of her birth in 1946, she combined a bunch of different names when she was put under pressure by a nurse and looked to blend together Lana Turner, Cheryl and Lynda to create Cherilyn, only for the name to be registered as Cheryl anyway.

Her memoir revealed extensive details about her relationship with her mother, as well as with Bono and her second marriage to Gregg Allman as well as revealing who the only man brave enough to ever dump her was.

Cher also revealed the first time she ever had sex was "revenge" for a boy who kissed her and ghosted her, as she described the experience as "overrated" before telling him to leave and never contact her again.

Why did Cher change her name?

Born as Cheryl (or Cherilyn) Sarkisian in El Centro, California, the future television personality and actress grew up to find herself attached to several different names through her professional career due to her personal life.

Eventually, the Goddess of Pop grew tired of the various names and decided to cut John Paul Sarkisian, stepdad Gilbert LaPiere and ex-husbands Gregg Allman and Sonny Bono's names from her roster to simply be known as Cher.

But there was nothing particularly personal behind it, she made the change for simple convenience when she was meeting new people.

"It's better for me," Cher told The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. "Than having people wonder if they should call me Mrs. Allman or Mrs. Bono or Mrs. Bono Allman or Miss Cher."

"Or whatever. I like it. I mean, Cher is just fine. Just plain Cher."