After initially refusing to talk, he has confirmed he is 29-year-old Egyptian Abdullah Hamamy.
He was shot in the stomach as, authorities say, he lunged at soldiers.
President Francois Hollande says there is little doubt it was a terrorist act.
The Egyptian remains under arrest in hospital.
His father, a retired Egyptian police general, said his son had not shown any signs of radicalisation, AFP reported.
Reda al-Hamamy said his son was in Paris on a business trip, lives in the United Arab Emirates, and has a wife and a seven-month old son.
Abdullah Hamamy had visited Turkey in 2015 and 2016, AFP reported.
He entered France on 26 January on a flight from Dubai and stayed at an apartment costing â‚¬1,700 ($1,830; Â£1,470) a week near the Champs Elysees that had been reserved last June, months before Mr Hamamy applied for his tourist visa in October, a source told the news agency.
He is believed to have bought two machetes after arriving. Cans of spray paint, but no explosives, were found in his backpack.
French authorities say the suspect also shouted the Islamic phrase "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") during the incident.
No group has claimed the attempted attack and no link to extremism was found during a search of the apartment.
However police are also examining Mr Hamamy's Twitter account after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic just minutes before the attack.
"In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world," he wrote, before referring to the so-called Islamic State jihadist group in another tweet a minute later, AFP says.
Hundreds of visitors were inside the museum at the time of the incident and were evacuated.

The man was walking along Onslow Road, near the railway bridge at Drumry Railway Station, at about 05:30 on New Year's Day when he was attacked by a group of people.
He was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where he is being treated in the high-dependency unit.
Police said there was no apparent motive.
Officers have been reviewing CCTV from the area and discovered that there were a number of people in the area at the time.
Det Insp Grant MacLeod said: "This appears to be a totally random attack, with no apparent motive, leaving a man seriously injured.
"Our inquires have revealed that despite it being fairly early in the morning, there were various people in the vicinity at the time of the attack and I am appealing to these people to get in touch.
"It's possible you can provide information on the suspects which would assist our investigation in locating those responsible for this violent attack."
The man suspected of attacking soldiers with two machetes at Paris's Louvre Museum on Friday has confirmed his identity to investigators and given his version of events, judicial sources say.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A 40-year-old man has serious injuries after being stabbed by a gang in a "random" attack in Clydebank.