Che Guevara's Real Name: Ernesto Guevara de la Serna

Quick answer: Che Guevara's full name was Ernesto Guevara de la Serna. He was born on June 14, 1928, in Rosario, Argentina, and died on October 9, 1967, in La Higuera, Bolivia. “Che” was a nickname, not a legal given name.

Real name and early life

Britannica and the Library of Congress identify Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (byname Che Guevara), born June 14, 1928, in Rosario, Argentina, and died October 9, 1967, in La Higuera, Bolivia (Britannica; LOC). In Hispanic naming, Guevara is the paternal surname and de la Serna the maternal family name. He was the eldest child of Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna. He studied medicine in Buenos Aires, traveled widely in Latin America, and formed revolutionary politics after witnessing poverty and the 1954 CIA-backed overthrow of Guatemala’s Jacobo Árbenz government.

Career highlights

In Mexico he joined Fidel and Raúl Castro’s 26th of July Movement, sailed to Cuba on the yacht Granma, and rose as a guerrilla commander in the campaign that ousted Fulgencio Batista. After the revolution he held senior posts including president of the National Bank of Cuba and minister of industries, wrote on guerrilla warfare, and became a global symbol of leftist revolt. He left Cuban office to fight abroad, including in the Congo, then led a failed guerrilla campaign in Bolivia. Bolivian forces captured and executed him on October 9, 1967—dates confirmed in Britannica and LOC authority records. History remembers him as Che; the documented civil name is Ernesto Guevara de la Serna.

Name notes for searchers

“Che” is an Argentine/Uruguayan interjection roughly like “buddy,” applied to Guevara by Cuban comrades because of his accent and speech habits—not a baptismal name. LOC fuller-name notes list Guevara de la Serna; variants with Lynch appear in some genealogical forms. Prefer Britannica and LOC over conflicting birth-month stubs (some popular pages list May 14; Britannica/LOC use June 14).