Yes, well, I love Star Trek a lot, and I also love the movie Labyrinth a lot. This resulted in a Venn diagram of me learning a bunch of things about Gates/Cheryl McFadden.

And knowledge, I find, is best shared.

I really don’t know. But I will say one thing: all these decades later, I would prefer the name “Gates McFadden“ to “Cheryl McFadden“, but that’s really a matter of personal preference, and certainly not in any sort of objective creative judgment, or critique.

The name “Gates“ certainly aged better than the name “Cheryl“, at least in my opinion. She very likely came to this decision in the late 70s or early 80s. The choices certainly reflect the era.

It's her middle name

The Screen Actor's Guild requires one's name to be unique. If anyone has ever used Cheryl McFadden, that name is off the table. No idea if that's the case here.