AJ McLean is revealing the reason why his daughter, formerly known as Ava, changed her name four years ago.
Back in 2022, the McLean family revealed that their daughter, then 9 years old made the decision to change her name from Ava to Elliott. The reason why is because there were too many Ava’s and she wanted something unique.
Now, AJ is sharing that her name has never been changed officially because she’s not ready to make the commitment.
“She felt like her name wasn’t unique, and she was watching, Pete’s Dragon one day. And Elliott is the… Elliott’s the dragon? Yeah. Elliott,” McLean recently explained again while a guest on the Curtis Stone podcast. “So she wanted that name, but with two T’s. God forbid, I spell it with one T. And she’s been Elliott ever since.”
Like AJ’s wife explained a few years ago, the decision to change her name wasn’t a “a transgender thing …but it is a personal choice,’ he continued.
“I did tell her; I said, ‘Babe, you do realize if you wanna keep it, it’s great, I support it, but we legally have to go to the courthouse and change it.’ And when I said that, she’s like, ‘Well, maybe I’ll keep it for a couple more years, and then I’ll go back to Ava.'”
AJ joked that after announcing she wanted to go by Elliot for the next few years, his youngest daughter Lyric then asked to change her name to Ava, which he told her “no.”
It is her body, it’s her name, it’s her everything. And she’s still Ava. She’ll always be Ava to me,” he added. “But at the same time, whatever reasoning it is, that’s hers, and I’m going to support it a million percent, my wife will [too],” he went on.
AJ McLean and his estranged wife Rochelle first announced their daughter’s name change in 2022. The Backstreet Boys singer and Rochelle posted an adorable photo of their daughters on their first day of school in a joint Instagram post.
Both girls smile as they held big balloons that feature their names and the grade they were starting at the time.
Instead of the balloon reading Ava, it read Elliott, which prompted some questions from users about why the couple’s older daughter changed her name. Rochelle later shared individual photos of the girls on her Instagram Story, along with a post addressing questions about her oldest’s name.
“For those asking … not that it’s anyone’s business but Elliott’s name change is not a gender thing,” Rochelle wrote, going on to explain that her daughter has tried a few name changes, and Elliott “stuck” after she asked her parents to start calling her by the name last year.
“She wanted something unique that no one else had. (There are so many Ava’s). I didn’t really see the harm in respecting her desire to be unique.” Rochelle went on to note that it’s a “little odd” that parents pick names for children at birth and “expect them to forever [identify] as that person.”
“Anyway … so that’s how Ava became Elliott. I knew once I put it out there people would have opinions, but be kind,” she continued. “She’s just a kid trying to make her way in this crazy world! I just want her to know she can always be whoever she wants to be.”
During his appearance at 90s Con in March, McLean spoke about his dreams of performing on Broadway and what a move to New York City could mean for his family.
“That is like number one on my bucket list: to do Broadway,” McLean said. “Within the next two years, my family and I — I’m not going to tell you where — we’re going to move to New York for one year and hopefully [it will happen].”
He added that the potential move would allow his two daughters to attend some “really awesome dance schools in New York,” adding, “They’re both mini-mes. They love to perform.”
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