Zahara Jolie Drops Pitt Surname: Angelina Jolie’s Daughter Files Legal Name Change
Zahara Jolie, 21, has taken the final public step in a legal name change to drop “Pitt,” following siblings Shiloh and Maddox before her.
Almost a decade after Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s split, one more of their children is formally cutting the last legal tie to their father’s surname. Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt, the couple’s 21-year-old daughter, has completed the public notice process required for a legal name change — and she’ll soon be known simply as Zahara Marley Jolie.
What did Zahara Jolie actually file?
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Zahara filed a petition asking to change her legal name from Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt to Zahara Marley Jolie. Under California law, that kind of petition has to be publicly advertised before a judge will sign off on it. Zahara’s notice ran in the Los Angeles Daily Journal once a week for four straight weeks — on June 16, June 23, June 30 and July 7 — completing that requirement.
Her case now moves to a final hearing on September 28. If nobody files a written objection before then, the judge can approve the change and make “Zahara Marley Jolie” official.
Why is she dropping the Pitt name?
Zahara hasn’t publicly gone by “Pitt” for a while now, even before this filing made it official — she used only her mother’s surname when she crossed the stage at her Spelman College graduation in May 2026. She’s also not the first of the six Jolie-Pitt children to take this step. Sister Shiloh filed the same request the day she turned 18 in 2024, and brother Maddox filed his own petition just last month, asking to be known as Maddox Chivan Jolie. Reports suggest Vivienne and Pax have also quietly stopped using “Pitt” socially and professionally, even without formal filings.
None of the siblings have publicly detailed their reasons in their court paperwork. But the pattern is hard to miss: four of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s six children have now distanced themselves from their father’s name in some way, formal or otherwise.
How has Brad Pitt responded?
Pitt has not commented publicly on Zahara’s filing. However, a source close to him told TMZ that his camp views the pattern among the children as part of a longer effort by Jolie to drive a wedge between Pitt and the kids — a claim Jolie has not addressed. The remark reflects how unresolved the family’s tensions remain, even years after the divorce was finalized.
A famously public divorce
Jolie and Pitt’s split in 2016 was one of the most closely watched celebrity breakups in recent memory — the pair had long been treated as a kind of Hollywood ideal, which made the news of their separation hit fans especially hard. What followed was a lengthy, often bitter legal process that stretched on for years, touching everything from custody arrangements to a shared French winery, before the divorce was finalized in 2024. The couple share six children: Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 17.
What is Angelina Jolie working on now?
While the family drama continues to play out in court filings, Jolie’s career has kept moving. Her latest film, Couture, directed by Alice Winocour, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025 before opening more widely this year. Jolie plays Maxine Walker, an American filmmaker in Paris for Fashion Week who receives a breast cancer diagnosis in the middle of preparing a major show — and finds an unexpected romance, played by Louis Garrel, arriving at the same time. Jolie has called the role one of the most personal of her career, given her own family’s history with the disease.
FAQs
Q: What name is Zahara Jolie-Pitt changing her name to?
A: She has petitioned to be legally known as Zahara Marley Jolie, dropping “Pitt” from her name.
Q: When will Zahara’s name change be finalized?
A: A California court hearing is scheduled for September 28, 2026, where a judge can approve the change if there are no objections.
Q: Which of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s children have dropped the Pitt surname?
A: Shiloh (2024), Maddox, and now Zahara have all filed formal petitions. Vivienne and Pax have reportedly stopped using it informally.
Q: When did Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt divorce?
A: They separated in 2016, and their divorce was finalized in 2024 after a lengthy legal process.
Q: What is Angelina Jolie’s new film about?
A: Couture follows an American filmmaker played by Jolie who is diagnosed with breast cancer while working on a Paris Fashion Week project.
Conclusion
Zahara’s filing is less a single dramatic moment than the latest entry in a pattern that’s been building for years — one Jolie-Pitt child after another quietly, then formally, stepping away from their father’s surname. With a September 28 hearing now on the calendar, the family’s long and public unraveling looks set to gain one more small, symbolic chapter.
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