Celebrity kids who dropped their famous last names: Suri Cruise to Shiloh Jolie-Pitt
Hollywood’s next generation is making a statement with their surnames.
Brad Pitt’s daughters, Shiloh, Zahara and Vivienne, are among the many celebrity kids who have chosen to drop their parents’s famous last names.
Shiloh filed to legally make the change in May 2024, while her sisters debuted their shorter monikers at public events.
The siblings notably followed in their mom Angelina Jolie’s footsteps.
The “Maleficent” actress did the same when she changed her last name amid her estrangement from dad Jon Voight.
Read on to find out which celebrity offspring are making the major decision — and why.
Suri Cruise to Suri Noelle
When Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter, Suri, graduated from high school in June 2024, her name was listed as Suri Noelle on the event’s program.
The surname honors her mother, as Noelle is the “Dawson’s Creek” alum’s middle name.
Tom, who divorced Holmes in 2012 and has not had a relationship with Suri in years, made headlines for skipping his daughter’s graduation in New York City and instead attending Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour show in London the following day.
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Jolie
Shiloh didn’t waste any time dropping her dad’s last name, filing to make the change from Jolie-Pitt to just Jolie on her 18th birthday.
The teenager “hired her own lawyer and paid for it herself,” “Entertainment Tonight” reported in June 2024.
A source told People that Pitt was “aware and upset” by the news, which made headlines eight years into his and Angelina’s contentious divorce proceedings.
Zahara Jolie-Pitt to Zahara Jolie
Pitt’s eldest daughter made headlines for proudly shouting her shortened name during an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority induction ceremony in November 2023.
The Spelman College student screamed, “Zahara Marley Jolie.”
Social media users reacted to the apparent diss, with one writing, “Oh Zahara said her last name is Jolie, not Jolie-Pitt.”
Vivienne Jolie-Pitt to Vivienne Jolie
Vivienne worked with her mom on the Broadway adaptation of “The Outsiders” in 2024 — and appeared to diss her dad when the play premiered that May.
The assistant was listed as Vivienne Jolie in the show’s Playbill.
As with Zahara, it remains unclear whether the teen’s last name is still legally Jolie-Pitt.
Angelina Jolie Voight to Angelina Jolie
Angelina had an on-again, off-again relationship with her famous father for years before getting her name legally changed in 2002.
“I do not want to make public the reasons for my bad relationship with my father,” the actress said at the time. “I have determined that it is not healthy for me to be around my father.”
Voight has continued to speak about Angelina amid their estrangement, congratulating her and Vivienne in June 2024 when “The Outsiders” won a Tony Award.
Tanner Elle Schneider to Elle King
Elle King dropped dad Rob Schneider’s last name in favor of her mom London King’s before pursuing a career in the music industry.
“I wanted to be my own person,” she explained to People in February 2023. “I want to have a life built for myself, and I want to know that I did it.
“My father and I have a beautiful and really wonderful, great loving relationship with awesome boundaries,” Elle clarified at the time. “I love my dad so much.”
Malia Obama to Malia Ann
Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s eldest daughter has dropped her parents’s last name in her creative pursuits.
When the Harvard University graduate debuted her short film, “The Heart,” at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024, she was credited as Malia Ann.
Ann, notably, is the former first daughter’s middle name.
Micheál Neeson to Micheál Richardson
Liam Neeson’s son Micheál legally changed his last name for a sentimental reason after his mom, Natasha Richardson, died in a 2009 skiing accident.
The “Taken” star’s eldest child now goes by Micheál Richardson instead of Micheál Neeson.
Liam applauded the decision in a 2020 “Radio Andy” interview, calling it a “lovely homage” he was “touched by.”
Nicolas Coppola to Nicolas Cage
After Nicolas Cage’s roles in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Rumble Fish,” he changed his last name to differentiate himself from his uncle Francis Ford Coppola.
His new name was inspired by “a combination of Luke Cage from Marvel Comics … and John Cage, the avant-garde composer,” the “Wicker Man” star told Wired in 2022.
“Speaks volumes about what I’ve been up to ever since,” Cage joked.
Xavier Alexander Musk to Vivian Jenna Wilson
In April 2022, shortly before her 18th birthday, Elon Musk’s daughter Vivian filed to legally change her name and gender.
The teen, who opted for mom Justine Wilson’s surname, listed her motivation as “gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Elon addressed their estrangement after Vivian’s name change was granted, with the 12-time dad joking that he “can’t win them all.”
