The music legend recalls her mother saying, “I was only a teenager, and I was in a great deal of discomfort,” after a hospital nurse made an unfortunate mistake.

Cher made an unexpected discovery when she began legally changing her name.

In her new memoir, Cher, the 78-year-old music legend recounts how she applied for a copy of her birth certificate in 1979 and was surprised to see that her first name was registered as Cheryl.

“I had always thought of Cherilyn as my name, but I decided to change it legally to simply Cher,” she writes.

In 1946, her mother went into labor at a relatively small hospital in El Centro, California, somewhat earlier than anticipated. “By the time I arrived at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, May 20, she was quite tired,” Cher writes.

While her mother was recuperating, a nurse asked what name she had chosen for her newborn. “My mother wasn’t sure, but the woman was insistent. She replied, “Lana Turner is my favorite actress, and her daughter is Cheryl.” My mom’s name is Lynda. Cherilyn would be a fitting name. At least, that’s what the “Believe” singer suggests in her memoir.

Cher later discovered the birth certificate error and asked her mother, “Do you know my real name?” Her mother took the document, looked at it, and shrugged.

In 1979, the Grammy Award-winning artist legally changed her name to Cher, which involved dropping four surnames. Sarkisian, LaPiere, Bono, and Allman.

Cher’s mother passed away in December 2022 at the age of 96, following a period of hospitalization for pneumonia in September. The Moonstruck star took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share the sad news, writing, “Mom is gone.”

In 2013, Cher shared with PEOPLE that her mother, an actress and musician, had never advised her or her sister because she knew it wouldn’t have been well-received.

She explained, “We were fortunate to learn about life by listening to her talk.”

When she was just nine years old, Cher recalls riding a stranger’s horse and hopping a freight train. She said it could have had unfortunate consequences.

Cher was deeply impressed by her late mother’s glamour. “She and her friends were quite the beauty. Upon their arrival, they were greeted with a moment of silence. “She was also very stylish,” she said.

The music icon also shared that she was pretty determined as a child, sometimes challenging her mom to navigate her behavior.

“I decided to leave home when I was 11.” “I hopped a train with my friends,” she told PEOPLE. “I was just adventurous but never meant to be disrespectful.” “I don’t think she would have been pleased about that.”