Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt, 21, has asked a judge to legally remove "Pitt" from her last name and be known as Zahara Marley Jolie, filing a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court that the public record reflects.
The court papers formalize what Zahara has already done in practice: in recent years she stopped using Pitt as part of her surname. The legal move follows a similar change by her younger sister, Shiloh, 20, who recently dropped Jolie-Pitt and now uses Jolie. The filings mark a widening pattern among the couple's children toward shorter versions of the family name.
The petition lands amid a family timeline that helps explain the moment: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt split in 2016 and finalized their divorce in 2024; the two share six children. Zahara was adopted by Jolie from Ethiopia in 2005 and arrived at adulthood after enrolling at Spelman College in 2022 and graduating on May 17 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.
Zahara's graduation — captured in a social media video that shows her receiving her degree — and her membership in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority underline the personal milestones surrounding the filing. The legal petition converts a public identity choice into a matter for judicial approval, which would change Zahara's name on official documents if a judge grants it.
Background in the record underscores why Zahara's name matters to family and public observers: Jolie has repeatedly sought to keep Zahara connected to her Ethiopian roots, including a 2019 visit to Ethiopia in which mother and daughter met with Sahle-Work Zewde. Jolie adopted Zahara in 2005, and those ties are part of the context for Zahara's identity choices as she moves into independent adulthood.
That context also contains friction. A source close to Pitt has told others that Jolie is behind Pitt's estranged relationship with Zahara. The claim sits alongside the facts that Jolie adopted Zahara and has emphasized preserving Zahara's cultural connection; the court record does not resolve the competing narratives, and neither parent has a ruling attached to this petition.
The immediate legal question is straightforward: a judge in Los Angeles Superior Court will decide whether Zahara's requested name change becomes the law of the record. The filing itself does not include a confirmed hearing date or a judicial decision, and the public docket does not yet show a ruling. Until a judge signs an order, Zahara's petition remains a request, not a legal change.
For now, Zahara's action closes a chapter of private choice and opens a formal one in public court: she has filed to be Zahara Marley Jolie; the next step is judicial review in Los Angeles, and the court's ruling — which the record does not yet provide — will determine whether that is her legal name going forward.
