AJ McLean wholeheartedly supports his daughter’s decision to legally alter her name. The Backstreet Boy’s singer said he and his wife Rochelle fully support their daughter’s decision to alter her name from Ava to Elliott.
AJ told PEOPLE, “When my daughter asked to change her name to Elliott, first I didn’t sure whether it was a transgender thing, which it is not, but it is a personal choice. It’s her physical form, her identity, and her whole existence. Even now, she identifies as an Ava. She’s Ava in my heart forever.
However, “whatever reasoning it is, that’s hers,” and my wife and I will stand by it wholeheartedly, is also true.
AJ continued, telling me his daughter had told him she didn’t like her name She confided in him, “Dad, I just feel like my name is not that distinctive and not that creative, and there’s a lot of Avas at dance and a lot of Avas at school.”
And he continued, “She just got done watching ‘Pete’s Dragon,’ and she loved the name Elliot, but with two Ts. It’s become second nature, so easy to say now. She’s officially Elliott now.
AJ Mc Lean, 44, who also has a daughter Lyric, five, with Rochelle, continued, “Whatever road both my girls have, I will be in their corner a million percent, my wife will be in their corner and support them, whatever their path is and whatever their journey is.” We’re simply like any other family in that regard.”
In an earlier Instagram post, Rochelle clarified that Elliott’s name change was not motivated by gender identity concerns. Ava’s name has been altered several times since she was about five years old. After she insisted that we all start calling her “Elliot” last year, the name stuck. She yearned for an exclusive item that no one else possessed.