Stage names are common in show business, but a court-approved name change is a different thing. It means filing paperwork, getting a judge’s sign-off, and making a family rift part of the public record. Few families have drawn as much attention for this as the one built around Angelina Jolie.
The four people below all come from that family. Each one’s legal name change has been tied in reporting to a strained relationship with a famous father. Where the reasons haven’t been stated publicly, the article says so.
Angelina Jolie Dropped Voight in 2002
Jolie was born Angelina Jolie Voight. In 2002 she legally changed her name from Angelina Voight to Angelina Jolie, using her middle name. Jolie was already using it as a stage name.
The split from her father, actor Jon Voight, was the reason she gave. She said at the time that she didn’t want to make public the reasons for the bad relationship. She has been vocal over the years about the strained relationship with her estranged father. That 2002 filing set the pattern her own children would later follow.
Shiloh Jolie Filed on Her 18th Birthday
Shiloh was the first of Jolie and Brad Pitt’s six children to drop the Pitt surname. She filed a petition to drop her father’s surname in May 2024, on her 18th birthday. A source close to the matter told NBC News that she hired and paid for her own lawyer.
The filing came during her parents’ long divorce. Us Weekly confirmed in August 2024 that the request had been granted. Her parents also remain in a heated legal fight, mainly over their winery, Château Miraval in the south of France.
Maddox Jolie Made the Change Official in 2026
Maddox is the eldest of the six children. He was adopted by Jolie in 2002 and by Pitt in 2006, and he filed to remove Pitt from his surname in June 2026. He will now go by Maddox Chivan Jolie, and he listed the reason as personal.
That wording matters, because no official explanation has been given. Reports have described him as estranged from his father. He had been credited with the Jolie Pitt surname on the 2024 drama Maria, where he worked as a set production assistant. His new name first appeared in the credits of his mother’s next film.
Vivienne Jolie Is the Latest to Follow
Vivienne is the most recent of the four. A Los Angeles court approved her request to become Vivienne Marcheline Jolie just days before news of her art exhibition in Los Angeles. Back in May 2024, she was already listed as Vivienne Jolie in the Playbill for the Broadway production of The Outsiders, where she was a producer alongside her mother.
Her change means the pattern now covers most of the family. Four of Jolie and Pitt’s children, Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh and Vivienne, have been approved by the courts to drop the name Pitt. Her twin brother Knox hasn’t taken legal action yet, though he reportedly already dropped Pitt on his high school diploma.
