Joel Madden has revealed when his daughter first opted to change her name.
The Good Charlotte frontman explained he first found out about the switch from her teacher.
Having been named Harlow Winter Kate Madden when she was born in 2008, Joel’s daughter, whom he shares with wife Nicole Richie, 44, first decided to go by one of her middle names when she was just seven years old.
“She’s been going by her middle name since she was in, like, first grade,” Benji, 47, told Bunnie Xo on her Dumb Blonde podcast. “She chose it.”
He went on to describe the moment he and Nicole learned their daughter was no longer using the first name they’d given her, at a parent-teacher interview.
“The teacher was like, ‘Kate’s doing great. She’s so nice’,” Joel shared. “We’re like, ‘Who’s Kate?’ And they’re like, ‘Your daughter, Kate. That’s what she said her name was!'”
He added he and Nicole were completely open to the new moniker.
“We went home. We’re like, ‘You go by Kate at school?'” the singer continued. “She goes, ‘Yeah, I like it.’ And we were like, ‘OK, great.'”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” he stressed. “It was her middle name. It was just like, ‘Oh, cool. That’s cute. You’re going by your middle name now. That’s sweet.’ Then there was no discussion.”
Joel also suggested the name gave their family a way to weed out anyone who wasn’t part of their inner circle.
“If you know her, you know she’s Kate. People that don’t know her would call her Harlow,” he noted. “It’s kind of smart, actually. She knows if someone called her Harlow, they don’t really know her.”
