Another Pitt Child Makes It Official: Zahara Drops Dad's Last Name

The legal machinery is turning. Twenty-one-year-old Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt is officially in motion to become Zahara Marley Jolie, completing a California court requirement that’s been simmering since June when she first filed the petition.

Here’s what went down: To legally change your name in California, you don’t just walk into a courthouse and ask nicely. You have to publish notice of your petition in a newspaper once a week for four consecutive weeks, announcing the change and inviting anyone who objects to file written opposition before a judge weighs in. Zahara’s notices ran on June 16, June 23, June 30, and July 7 in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. Her hearing is scheduled for September 28, and unless someone officially contests it, the judge will likely rubber-stamp the request.

This isn’t a shock—and it’s not even the first time this has happened in the family. Her older sister Shiloh followed the exact same path before officially dropping“Pitt”from her name back in 2024. Maddox and Vivienne have also quietly stopped using the surname publicly in recent years. What was once a unified family brand is now fractured across multiple legal names, each child making their own choice about whether to keep the paternal surname that came with being born to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

A source close to Brad tells the media Angelina is the architect of this rift, suggesting a deliberate campaign to alienate the children from their father. That’s one version of the story. But Zahara’s decision is legally hers to make, and she’s clearly made it. Whether it’s about identity, independence, or something deeper—only she knows. What’s certain is that she’s joining a growing list of Jolie-Pitt offspring who’ve decided the name just doesn’t fit anymore.

The September 28 hearing will likely be the final chapter in this particular name-change story. But the bigger question hanging over all of this remains unanswered: what does it mean when children systematically distance themselves from a parent’s name?