Zahara Jolie-Pitt Petitions LA Court to Remove "Pitt" From Her Name Weeks After Spelman Graduation

The paperwork is short and offers no explanation, but its meaning is hard to miss. Zahara Jolie-Pitt, the 21-year-old daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, has petitioned the Los Angeles Superior Court to legally shorten her name to Zahara Marley Jolie — becoming the third of the former couple's six children to formally remove their father's surname.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the petition was lodged on 4 June, although Zahara signed it back on 28 April, and she is expected to appear before a judge in late September. The filing comes just weeks after she graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta with a degree in psychology — a ceremony at which she was introduced using only her mother's surname, and which her father reportedly did not attend.

Also Read: Shiloh Jolie at 20: Inside the Jolie-Pitt Children's Mass Rejection of Brad Pitt's Surname

Following Her Siblings' Lead

Zahara is treading a well-worn path. Her younger sister Shiloh, now 19, filed to drop the Pitt surname on her 18th birthday in May 2024, and a judge granted the request within months. Last month, reports surfaced that eldest brother Maddox, 24, had lodged a similar petition — though he had already been using Jolie professionally, including in his assistant director credit on his mother's film Couture.

Vivienne, one of the couple's 17-year-old twins, has not gone to court but was billed simply as Vivienne Jolie in the playbill for the Broadway production of The Outsiders, which she worked on alongside her mother. That means four of the six children have now distanced themselves from the name in some form, while Pax and Knox have given no public indication of plans of their own.

A Decision Years in the Making

For Zahara, the legal filing simply formalises a choice she made long ago. She introduced herself as Zahara Marley Jolie when she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman back in November 2023, and has used the shorter name publicly ever since.

None of the children have spoken about their reasons, but the decisions follow one of Hollywood's longest and most bitter separations. Jolie filed for divorce in 2016 after an altercation on a private flight; Pitt denied allegations of abusive behaviour, was investigated and cleared by child welfare officials, and no charges were ever brought. The divorce itself was not finalised until December 2024 — more than eight years later.

California law requires name-change petitioners to publish public notices before a hearing, so the process will take a little longer yet. But barring objections, by autumn the change will be official — and the Jolie name alone will carry forward.