Ava, the little daughter of the Backstreet Boys star and his wife Rochelle Karidis, together with their second child, Lyric, who is five years old, have made the decision to change their names. AJ has argued that Ava has the right to do so, and the rest of the family is fully behind her decision.
"It is her body, it is her name, it is her everything, and she's still Ava. She'll always be Ava to me," he told People.com.
Elliott still identifies as female but wants to go by a different name, according to AJ, who continued to emphasise that the name change is unrelated to gender identification.
He continued, "At first, I didn't know whether my daughter's request to change her name to Elliott was a transgender issue, which it is not, but it is a personal choice, and whatever explanation it may be, that's hers, and I'm going to support it a million percent, and my wife will [as well]."
The pop artist went on to say that it appeared as though her justification was that she knows too many females named Ava in her social circle.
Elliott reportedly stated to AJ, "Dad, I just feel like my name is not that distinctive and not that creative, and there are a lot of Avas at dance and a lot of Avas at school," according to what AJ reported.
Additionally, he claimed that she received the inspiration for her new name after watching the beloved children's movie "Pete's Dragon," which had a dragon by the name of Eliot.
AJ and Rochelle began dating in 2009, were married in 2011, and welcomed their first child, Elliott, in 2012. Her sister Lyric was born in 2017 after that.
