X Factor dispute: Cheryl blocks new Cher name?

X Factor dispute: Cheryl blocks new Cher name?
X Factor dispute: Cheryl blocks new Cher name? (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Cheryl Cole and Cher Lloyd are in dispute, according to reports, over what to call the aspiring X Factor singer. The Sun said that Cher, who impressed judges with her rendition of Shakespears Sister ballad Stay on Saturday night, wants to be known as Cher-L but that her mentor, Cheryl, feels the new name is too similar to her own. A show insider told the newspaper: "Cher has already been called a mini-Cheryl and now she could end up with almost the same name." Music chiefs came up with the idea of using the name Cher-L, using the first letter of her last name to rebrand the 17-year-old rapper, after the ITV series ends. The singer cannot use the name Cher because of the US star. The source continued: "X Factor chiefs want Cher to change her name after the show to give her something a bit edgier and more fitting to her image. "They don't like her having two names and think she should have something a bit different. She can't be known as Cher so the idea of Cher-L came up - but her mentor didn't like it as it was so similar to her own name. "Cher loves Cheryl and values her input and ideas but it doesn't look like she'll get her way on this one."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.