About a decade ago, Brad Pitt alienated his children and ended his marriage in one fell swoop.
Good for him!
What will his new name be?
On Thursday, May 28, The Daily Mail reported that 24-year-old Maddox has officially filed to drop “Pitt” from his name.
His new legal name will be Maddox Chivan Jolie.
In the filing, he listed the reason for the request as “personal.”
(These forms tend to have specific options, like how one might amend their name due to a marriage or divorce.)
Name changes are a headache. But this particular change has been a long time coming.
Maddox had already stopped using his father’s surname earlier this year.
For example, in the credits of Couture, he was listed simply as Maddox Jolie.
(Yes, Couture was Angelina’s film.)
Informally dropping his dad’s surname from his own is one thing.
Filing to legally change his name truly feels like a healing moment for Maddox. And he’s not alone.
How many Pitts are left?
Shiloh was the first of the children to file for a legal name change. She made the filing on her 18th birthday.
(For years, she’d been presented in tabloids as a “daddy’s girl” who wished that her parents would simply reconcile. One cannot help but wonder if this name change filing was, in part, a response this this narrative.)
Also in 2024, Zahara introduces herself as Zahara Marley Jolie when she joined her Spelman College sorority. Pax also ditched the Pitt name, albeit informally.
In fact, thus far, the only Jolie children who seem to have “Pitt” as part of their names are Knox and Vivienne.
The twins are both 17. When they turn 18, maybe they’ll keep the Pitt surname. But maybe not. We’ll find out.
Angelina Jolie filed to divorce Brad Pitt in 2016. The divorce process was lengthy and painful, only being finalized in 2024.
Allegedly, Pitt attacked her and at least one of his children during a private flight.
Angelina took that personally, as she should. It appears that her children did the same.
Maddox actually testified against his father. Ditching daddy dearest’s name really isn’t much of a surprise.
Some people keep the surname of a parent with whom they have gone no contact, out of convenience or to match their names with siblings. But, in Maddox’s case, keeping his father’s surname would make him the odd man out in his family.