Angelina Jolie’s daughter Vivienne takes legal action against her name

Another one of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s children seems to be stepping away from her father’s surname, as 18-year-old Vivienne Jolie-Pitt has filed a legal petition.

Read on for more details.

As per court documents acquired by People, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt submitted the petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court on July 21, just a few days after her 18th birthday.

She cited the reason for the change as simply ‘personal.’ If granted, her legal name will be Vivienne Marcheline Jolie, which aligns with the name she has already been using in her professional life.

Vivienne appeared to be distancing herself from the Jolie-Pitt surname even before submitting the paperwork. In 2024, she was credited as ‘Vivienne Jolie’ in the Playbill for the Broadway show The Outsiders, where she collaborated with her mother as a production assistant.

This choice indicates that she had already started to carve out her own identity apart from the well-known surname prior to making the formal request for the name change.

She is not the only child of the former couple to distance herself from the Pitt name. After turning 18, Shiloh legally changed her name to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie, and both Maddox and Zahara have also taken steps to use Jolie without their father’s surname.

Similarly, Knox has been reported to have used “Knox Jolie” on his high school diploma, although he hasn’t publicly filed for a legal name change.

These choices come amid years of tension in the former couple’s family life. Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt in 2016 after an incident on a private plane that reportedly involved the couple and their children. The FBI and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services looked into allegations from that incident, but Pitt was never charged with a crime.

The couple finalized their divorce in December 2024 after a lengthy legal battle, but their disputes have continued over a separate issue involving Château Miraval, the French winery they once co-owned.

Vivienne’s choice has also drawn parallels to her mother, who legally dropped her father’s surname, Voight, in 2002, becoming known simply as Angelina Jolie. At that time, Jolie had been estranged from her father, actor Jon Voight, for years, making the similarities between their decisions particularly striking to observers.

While none of the Jolie-Pitt children have publicly shared their reasons for changing or dropping their father’s surname, these decisions have sparked intense online speculation about their relationships with Pitt. A source close to the actor previously claimed that Jolie played a role in the children’s estrangement from their father, while others argue that the siblings are simply adults making their own independent choices about their identities.

Vivienne’s legal hearing is reportedly set for November 2.

Feel free to share this with others who enjoy staying updated on the latest Hollywood news.