Last month, Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy, both professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars, announced the arrival of their first child together. The couple had a son on January 10th but did not reveal his name until now.
Jenna shared a picture of her newborn son who was sporting a huge smile and shared that she and Val named him Rome Valentin Chmerkovskiy. Rome’s middle name is after his father, as Valentin is his full moniker bu he goes by the nickname Val. Jenna had previously shared that Val chose their son’s name. “We actually have had a boy and a girl name picked out for three years now. Val actually picked out the name for our boy, so we have it.”
While the couple had the name of their children picked out far in advance, Jenna has previously revealed that she would only go with her name choices if they suited her little one. “I’m a visual person for sure. And so I have this weird thing where I don’t want to be 100 percent set on it, even though we both love it. I really want to see him first before we make that decision. So far we have one that I’m pretty set on, so who knows, it might switch the day of.” The couple did not share yet if Rome’s name was the one they had initially decided on previously.
Fellow Dancing with the Stars professionals gushed about the couple’s newborn in the comments of their post. Lindsay Arnold, who is expecting baby number 2 in May, wrote, “ROME sweet boy I love you so much!!!!!!” Another pregnant DWTS alum Witney Carson gushed, “CANNOT HANDLE HIM! Love you Rome! You’re the best mama.”
Congratulations again to Jenna and Val on the arrival of their first child! We hope they continue to enjoy their new role as parents to baby Rome.
Kate Fann (she/her) is the BabyNames.com celebrity blogger, as well as an established content writer, aspiring author, and social media expert. She has been featured in online publications such as Bolde, ManoByte, Medium, The Social Observer, and more. Kate has ghostwritten numerous romance novels and is currently working on publishing her own works in the Young Adult genre.
Kate lives in East Tennessee with her husband Casey and her two sons, Quinn and Noah. When she's not writing or scrolling Instagram, Kate can be found tasting delicious wines, playing with make-up, baking yummy treats, or hiking the beautiful Smoky Mountains.
