Cyrus was born November 23, 1992, in Franklin, Tennessee, to Leticia "Tish" Jean Finley, a Roman Catholic is of Irish heritage, and country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, a Presbyterian of Scots-Irish heritage. Her parents married the year following her birth. Cyrus was born with supraventricular tachycardia, a condition causing an abnormal resting heart rate. Her birth name, Destiny Hope, expressed her parents' belief that she would accomplish great things. Her parents nicknamed her "Smiley", which they later shortened to "Miley", because she often smiled as an infant. In 2008, she legally changed her name to Miley Ray Cyrus; her middle name honors her grandfather, Democratic politician Ronald Ray Cyrus from Kentucky. Cyrus's godmother is singer-songwriter Dolly Parton.