Another Jolie-Pitt Child Has Dropped the Pitt — and a Fourth Is in the Process
Zahara Jolie is her legal name now.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge approved 21-year-old Zahara's petition on Monday, September 28, officially changing her name from Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt to Zahara Marley Jolie. No objections were filed. The order was granted without contest.
She's the third of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's six children to legally remove their father's surname — and she won't be the last. A fourth sibling, Vivienne, has filed her own petition and has a hearing scheduled for November.
The Change Was Already Happening
For Zahara, the legal paperwork simply caught up to a reality that had already been playing out publicly. When she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College in November 2023, she introduced herself as "Zahara Marley Jolie" — no Pitt. When school administrators called her name at her May graduation ceremony from Spelman in Atlanta, they announced Zahara Marley Jolie across the stage. The legal name change filed in April and approved Monday just made official what had already been her name in daily life.
The Timeline Across All Six Children
Shiloh was first. She filed to drop Pitt on her 18th birthday in May 2024 — hiring and paying for her own attorney to do it — and the name change was approved that summer. She is now legally Shiloh Jolie.
Maddox, 25 and the eldest, had his name change approved earlier this month. He is now Maddox Chivan Jolie.
Zahara's approval came September 28. She is now Zahara Marley Jolie.
Vivienne, 18, filed her petition in July and has a hearing scheduled for November. She is seeking to become Vivienne Marcheline Jolie.
The two remaining children — Pax, 22, and Vivienne's twin Knox, 18 — have not publicly filed petitions. That means four of the six children have dropped Pitt from their names or are working to drop it.
The Backdrop
Pitt and Jolie announced their separation in September 2016. Jolie filed for divorce and made accusations that became the subject of an investigation by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Pitt was cleared of physical abuse allegations. The couple finalized their divorce in December 2024, but a legal battle over their French winery, Château Miraval, continues.
Pitt has not publicly responded to the latest name changes.
The cascade of name changes from the children he shares with Jolie — three officially done, a fourth underway — doesn't require a statement to communicate something clearly.
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