Dolly Parton's Real Name: Dolly Rebecca Parton

Quick answer: Dolly Parton's full name is Dolly Rebecca Parton. She was born on January 19, 1946, in Sevier County, Tennessee, and performed under Dolly Parton—her birth name—throughout a career that bridged country and pop.

Real name and early life

Encyclopædia Britannica and the Library of Congress identify Dolly Rebecca Parton as her full name (Britannica; LOC). Parton is the family surname; Rebecca is the middle name. There is no stage surname. She was the fourth of twelve children born to Robert Lee Parton and Avie Lee Owens Parton in Appalachian eastern Tennessee. As a child she sang on local Knoxville radio and television. Right after high-school graduation in 1964 she moved to Nashville to pursue music full-time, later joining Porter Wagoner’s syndicated show before launching a solo career.

Career highlights

Parton’s songwriting produced enduring country and crossover hits including “Coat of Many Colors,” “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “Here You Come Again,” and “9 to 5.” She won multiple Grammy Awards, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1999) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2022), and built the Dollywood theme park and the Imagination Library literacy program (Biography.com; Grammy). Film work includes 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias. She married Carl Dean in 1966; he died in 2025. Parton died of cancer on August 25, 2026, in Nashville, at age 80 (Britannica). Across decades of fame, billing stayed Dolly Parton; the documented full name is Dolly Rebecca Parton.

Name notes for searchers

“Dolly” is her given first name, not a nickname layered over another legal forename. Searchers looking for middle-name spellings should prefer Britannica and LOC over unsourced celebrity sites. Wikipedia is a pointer after primary citations.