Earlier this week, Dancing with the Stars pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd announced the birth of their second baby, who was born on Father’s Day. The couple blurred out their little ones face and avoided sharing images of their face. Now, the couple has given their baby a full reveal… including sharing the baby’s name.
Maks and Peta welcomed a baby boy, their second son, on June 18th. The dancers named their son Rio John Chmerkovskiy. “We are overjoyed to share our baby boy with all of you,” Peta wrote in the caption of the couple’s post.
Rio joins the family with an older brother, the couple’s first son Shai Aleksander was born in January 2017. Peta shared that Shai “is already the best big brother and we all feel very complete. Life is good.” The couple discussed choosing Rio’s name with PEOPLE sharing, “We loved Rio, which we came upon at the last minute. It’s a perfect complement to our long surname! We also wanted something easy to say with Shai.”
As for Rio’s middle name, he shares the name with Peta’s father Derek John. The dancer’s father passed away in December 2022 at age 81. At the time, Peta shared a touching post about her father writing, “”To The Greatest Dad, my teddy bear. This is the end of our ride earth side.” The post was accompanies by a photo of Peta and her father riding a boat, with another image of the two holding hands beside a hospital bed. “Oh how I wish we could take this boat trip again. In the next life we will. This glance to each other was perfectly captured, you were so content, at sea where you were always meant to be. I know though that you will continue to ride with me until I see you again. I hope I made you proud these 36 years. You were my everything and I will miss you until my days here are done.”
Congratulations to Maks and Peta on the arrival of baby Rio! We wish them lots of love welcomed their newborn into their home.
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.
