Modern Family star Aubrey Anderson-Emmons changes her name

Allow Frances Anderson to reintroduce herself.

The actress formerly known as Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who broke out for her role as adoptee Lily on the Emmy-winning sitcom Modern Family, has changed her name to Frances Anderson. Anderson has adopted the new moniker to coincide with her pivot to a career in music. Her debut indie pop EP, “Drown,” is out now.

“Frances is actually part of my legal name,” Anderson, 18, explained to E! News on Friday. “It’s my middle name, and it’s after my mom’s old family friend. I thought it was a bit shorter than Aubrey Anderson-Emmons. I do have a long, hyphenated last name.”

Anderson added, “I wanted to switch it up and people to see a new side of me. And I wanted to create a space specifically just for music.”

She released the first single from the EP, “Telephones and Traffic,” in May.

Anderson made her television debut at the age of 4 in season 3 of Modern Family, playing the precocious adopted daughter of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Mitchell Pritchett and Eric Stonestreet’s Cam Tucker. She has won three ensemble Screen Actors Guild Awards alongside the sitcom’s cast. The comedy, which ran for 11 seasons on ABC, concluded in 2020.

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Anderson told E! that she “had to take a step back from acting” once the show ended to discover her passion for music. “The show ended when I was 12 years old, so after that I decided I’m not gonna act anymore,” she said. Rest assured, though, that Anderson does “plan on acting again — 100 percent.”

She has maintained a close relationship with her former onscreen fathers and other costars from the sprawling cast. Ferguson and Julie Bowen, who played Anderson’s onscreen aunt Claire, staged a mini-reunion when they attended Anderson’s school play last year.

Anderson last made headlines when she came out as bisexual last month, using memorable throwback audio from Modern Family to help mark the announcement. “You are Vietnamese,” Sofia Vergara’s Gloria informs Lily, who says in response, “No, I’m not. I’m gay!”

“I literally am,” Anderson captioned the post.