As of July 2026, all six children of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached adulthood and taken steps to remove “Pitt” from their surnames. While some changes were made informally, others have navigated formal legal proceedings in California to adopt their mother’s surname, marking a definitive shift in the family’s public identity.
Formal Legal Proceedings and the California Process
The transition for the Jolie-Pitt children from their hyphenated surnames to Jolie has been a multi-year, often meticulous process. In California, legally changing a name involves a formal petition to the court and a requirement to publish notice of the name change in a local newspaper for four consecutive weeks.
Photo: Marieclaire
As reported by El Pais, Maddox, 24, and Zahara, 21, have both completed these publication requirements in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. Maddox’s petition, which began in late May, is scheduled for a hearing on September 14, 2026. Zahara’s legal path is similarly aligned, with a hearing set for late September. These actions follow the precedent set by Shiloh, who, as Entertainment Tonight noted, filed her own paperwork on her 18th birthday in May 2024 to legally become Shiloh Jolie.
Informal Transitions and Professional Attribution
Not every child has sought a court order to update their legal identity, with several opting for informal shifts in how they are credited professionally or socially. Vivienne, for instance, was listed simply as Vivienne Jolie in the playbill for the Broadway production of The Outsiders. Similarly, Zahara had introduced herself using the Jolie name during sorority events at Spelman College before formalizing her legal process.
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Maddox had also been using the Jolie surname in professional capacities, such as his work as an assistant director on the film Couture, long before his current court petition. These informal shifts suggest that the move away from the Pitt name has been a gradual, personal decision for each of the siblings rather than a sudden, unified event. As TMZ reported, the requests are often driven by personal reasons, though the public nature of the changes highlights the broader, long-standing rift between the children and their father following the couple’s 2016 separation.
The Emotional and Legal Stakes of the Estrangement
People who are distanced from a relative or are estranged might choose to change their surname as a psychological defence mechanism to “help you separate yourself from something that could be problematic or traumatic”.
Photo: Elpais
Beyond the celebrity narrative, the mechanics of these changes underscore the logistical hurdles of adult name changes. For the Jolie-Pitt children, the completion of these legal steps serves as the final, formal punctuation mark on a decade of family turbulence. With the youngest twins, Knox and Vivienne, now reaching adulthood, the question remains whether any further legal challenges regarding their shared history will persist, or if this change signals the final chapter in the public dissolution of the Brangelina identity.
