Cher
Cher in 2010, DFree / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Cherilyn Sarkisian
Place of Birth: El Centro, Imperial, California, United States
Date of Birth: May 20, 1946
Ethnicity:
*father – Armenian
*mother – English, German, more distant Irish, Dutch, and French
Cher is an American singer, actress, and fashion personality. She was part of the singing duo Sonny & Cher, with Sonny Bono. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Moonstruck (1987). Her films also include Silkwood, Mask (1985), The Witches of Eastwick, Mermaids, Burlesque, and If These Walls Could Talk. She has also been known as Cheryl LaPiere, Cher Bono, and Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere Bono Allman.
Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian. Cher’s father, John Paul Sarkisian, was born in California, to Armenian parents; he worked as a truck driver. Cher’s mother, Georgia Holt (born Jackie Jean Crouch), a singer, songwriter, actress, and model, was of English and German, with more distant Irish, Dutch, and French, descent.
Cher is also stated to have Cherokee Native American ancestry on her mother’s side. She recorded the song, “Half-Breed,” about a woman of half Native American descent. However, no Cherokee Native American ancestors are documented on any publicly available genealogies of Cher.
Cher adopted the surname LaPiere from her stepfather, who was named Gilbert LaPiere. She has a son, activist and musician Chaz Bono, with her former husband, late musician Sonny Bono; and a son, musician Elijah Blue Allman, with her former husband, late musician Gregg Allman.
Cher’s paternal grandfather was named Ghiragoch/Ghiragos “George” Sarkisian.
Cher’s paternal grandmother was Syranous/Siranoush “Blanch”/Blanche Dilkian (the daughter of Hagop Dilkian and Loussaper Chivitjian).
Cher’s maternal grandfather was Roy Malloy Crouch (the son of James William “Jim” Crouch and Laura Belle Green). Roy was born in Arkansas. James was the son of William Howard Crouch and Mary Ann Bookout. Laura was the daughter of The Rev. William Martin Green and Julia Ann Bryant.
Cher’s maternal grandmother was Lynda/Linda Inez Gulley (the daughter of Isaac A. Gulley and Margaret Frances Fritz). Lynda was born in Arkansas. Isaac was the son of Thomas Bush/W. Gulley and Delilah R. Ann Donahue/Donihoo. Margaret was the daughter of Friedrich/Frederick August Fritsche/Fritz/Fritch, who was German, and of Margaret Ann Henson/Stewart.
Sources: Genealogies of Cher – http://www.wargs.com
https://www.geni.com
Cher admitted she made up the “Cherokee” descent claim for publicity and fame reasons. One time, she stated an ancestor named “Jane” found on the Trail of Tears roll who would make Cher 1/64 instead of 1/16 going by the time span. Also, she said her “real” biological father was a sailor who was either Cherokee or Comanche or even Chilean (when someone lies, the story changes) and her father came from India or Pakistan, interestingly, her home town El Centro CA along the Mexican border has one of the US’ oldest Indian American communities.
Where did she did admit she made it up, cause as recently as 2 years ago she was still spouting the lie she’s part native on Twitter.
I think people are confusing the traits of Armenian and Indian which are both common Asian. I think both groups are Asian. Armenians do not look fully European white to me they look Asian mixed. And native Americans are Asian related. So Cher is just white and Asian. And she looks native American to me cause thats just Asian.
Please use the term “Caucasian” and not “white.”
Eastern Indians are more Asian than Caucasian; Armenians are more Caucasian. It is said by some they descend from Persia, I think they probably descend from several Arabic nations, including Greece, Turkey, etc. American Indians are almost 100% Asian.
@pookerella
Well the term Caucasian is not exclusive to Europeans either lots of members of my family have a Caucasian phenotype and they’re not white . truth be told most of the members in my family have mixed phenotypes,including myself so how about we used the term (white or european Caucasian) if that makes you feel better
‘Arabic nations, including Greece, Turkey, etc‘
What the actual….. Oh, wait., you are American. It’s okey then..
Armenians aren’t Asians.
She looks fully armenian specially when she was younger, and her mother looks average white old lady, i cant see the cherokee admix
She’s clearly part Indian she even wrote a song about it
She is not part indian. Her mother is a typical white American who claims to have “Cherokee ancestry” when the records say otherwise. Writing a song about something also doesn’t make it true, Cher simply believed her mothers claim. The “Indian” you see is actually the half Armenian. I noticed nowadays Cher only calls herself Armenian & white (like when the BLM scandal happened). Guess she really did take a DNA test after all.
No Indian, all white. She is Armenian, English, German,, Irish, Dutch, and French. That’s all. Cease indulging in fantasies and striving to uncover a groundbreaking discovery.
Afghans are heavily South Asian, she could be Iranian though.
Bless your heart darling, get real., she is just of Armenian ancestry and the rest is mentioned above. No tricks here., her father is Armenian named Sarkissian., Cher’s surname is Sarkissian as welland she stated that she’s Armenian herself many, many times.. Farewell now.
I always thought she was more than just white. Its interesting how some people can pass. Most probably assumed she was just a med European type which is still possible. But Arenmians.
Armenia is a European country…..smack my head. Please do your research.
Armenia is a European country??? https://www.britannica.com/place/Armenia
Armenia football federation is affiliated to UEFA for example, but the country is in West Asia.
Well, check out the European official website. Case is closed. Bye.
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/eastern-europe_en
Politically, it’s part of Council of Europe: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Europe
Geographically, it’s considered West Asia or Asia by UN, CIA, The world encyclopedia by Oxford University Press, Treccani, Encyclopédie Larousse, Encyclopædia Britannica, National Geographic etc
Cher’s ancestry, like most Diaspora Armenians, stems from the Black Sea region in Northern Anatolia and not from the former Soviet Republic.
She’s half white. Armenians are not white , in a similar category with other West Asians, Greeks, Arabs, and Latinos
What’s your definition of white? Where do white people hail from, which ethnicities/nationalities make the cut?
What was that on Georgia Sapla’s page you said, Europe isn’t a continent, care to explain? Has our planetary geography been rewritten, in the same way Pluto is no longer considered a planet of our solar system?
I’m not trying to be antagonistic, I’m genuinely intrigued, I’m curious about people’s opinions on such matters.
It’s a tricky subject. The objective truth is that human race is a flawed concept, there is no such thing as categories in which we all can be placed. Human variation, race in particular, is a spectrum and everyone falls somewhere on it. However, racial categorization based on similar traits is possible to a point.
Speaking first to my point about Europe – every other continent is distinct from its neighbors by geographic features. North & South America are barely connected, same can be said for Africa & Eurasia or Eurasia & Australia, etc. – they are distinct land masses. However, the same cannot be said for Europe and Asia. There is no feature that objectively separates them and the distinction of the Ural Mountains is completely arbitrary. It was introduced in order to give Europeans a sense of superiority over other races and separate them from Asians, who were viewed as barbaric. Europe is a fairly modern development and clearly advanced in order to give white people their own continent, as the fact that whites and non-whites developed on the same continent is/was disturbing to many supremacist Europeans.
In reality, the homelands of white people line up mostly with the picture of Europe, but not completely. Notable exceptions include the Greeks, who genetically are closest to the Turks more than any other people, and Sicilians, who similarly have a lot of Mediterranean admixture from neighboring populations around the sea. Once you go east past Ukraine/Poland, whiteness begins to diminish. This can be seen if you drive west to east throughout Russia, where the spectrum of whiteness is apparent. Native Siberian peoples were Asian, but today’s Siberian population represents mixed ancestry between native Siberians and colonial Russians, similar to how modern Latinos are of mixed-race.
Countries that fall near the border of white/non-white will feature mixed populations, with some members appearing more or less white. This reflects the genetic melting pot that such countries have historically endured due to their central location. These countries are primarily made of Middle Eastern countries, and includes the nations of the Caucasus, North African countries such as Egypt, Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon, as well as West Asian countries such as Kazakhstan. People from these countries do not feel white but are shoehorned into identifying as such due to the American definition of what is white. It is worth noting that I bring up Latinos into this conversation because their ancestry is a mix of European and indigenous American, which can result in similar physical appearance to someone from the Middle East and its surrounding areas of influence.
Let me know what else I can clear up. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Not many thoughts to share, thank you for your elaborations however.
A follow up question though. What do you think of people from the other Balkan countries besides Greece, such as Albania, Bulgaria, etc Too admixed with West Asians to be considered “white”?
That’s a good question – it depends. The Balkans (as well as Hungary) were under Turkish control for several centuries and admixture definitely occurred, but overall in the non-Greek countries the rates were relatively low. Overall, the majority of people indigenous to the Balkans lack significant amounts of Turkish (and thus Asian) ancestry, making them an overwhelmingly white people. Their traits will certainly be less white than those of Western/Northern European ancestry but that reflects the racial spectrum. I’d probably group them with mainland Italians, central/Northern Spaniards, & southern French as white 1B , an overall darker white but white nonetheless. These areas (as well as the Balkans) have more sun exposure than further Northern Europeans hence their slight differences, but overall they don’t constitute a different race due to their strictly European origins. Balkans of Turkish ancestry are of mixed race to varying degrees and thus may vary in their non-whiteness.
Neat,thanks for sharing.
“Notable exceptions include the Greeks, who genetically are closest to the Turks more than any other people, and Sicilians, who similarly have a lot of Mediterranean admixture from neighboring populations around the sea”
Hogwash.
Sicilians are in the same genetic cohort as mainland south Italians.
Both mainland and Greek islanders have massive genetic affinity to Sicilians and mainland south Italians.
And both Sicilians and mainland south Italians share high genetic affinity with central Italians.
Moronic post.
Greeks are one of the oldest European nationalities, older than the Romans.
Greek culture was the bedrock foundation of western civilization.
Armenians are mediterranean europeoid race.