Cheryl Burke Reveals Her Real Name and the Surprising Reason She ‘Forced’ Her Parents to Change It

Cheryl Burke’s biggest transformation didn’t happen on Dancing with the Stars – it happened long before, on paper.

In a resurfaced TikTok video, the 41-year-old dancer revealed that Cheryl wasn’t the name she was born with. Burke shared that her parents originally named her Stephanie Cheryl until she “forced” them to change it for a very personal reason.

“There was a girl in my middle school who bullied me named Stephanie so [I] decided to make my legal name Cheryl Stephanie Burke,” she wrote in the post.

Burke told fans she’d been getting “tons of questions” about the switch, clarifying that she was first named Stephanie after her father, Stephen Burke, while her middle name Cheryl came from her mother, Sherri.

Now, of course, Cheryl Burke is a household name, and the star is about to make her return to the DWTS ballroom.

On Wednesday, October 22, the longtime pro revealed she’ll be back on the ABC series next week as a guest judge for the show’s Halloween Night episode.

“It’s been 3 years since my final dance and official retirement, and I still remember that night like it was yesterday. To return now, from the other side of the floor, is something I’ll never take for granted,” Burke wrote.

Calling DWTS her “home for close to 20 years,” Burke said she’s eager to reunite with familiar faces and meet the new crop of performers lighting up the dance floor.

“The people, the energy, the stories told through movement – it’s where I found my voice long before I ever used it offstage,” she added.