Brad Pitt’s daughter Vivienne takes major legal step to drop his famous last name

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s daughter Vivienne Jolie-Pitt has moved one step closer to officially changing her famous last name.

The 18-year-old has completed California’s required newspaper publication process as part of her petition to legally remove “Pitt” from her surname and become Vivienne Marcheline Jolie, according to new court documents obtained by TMZ.

Vivienne’s legal notice appeared in the Los Angeles Daily Journal once a week for four consecutive weeks, beginning July 24 and concluding on August 14. The notice gives anyone with legal grounds to oppose the request an opportunity to submit a written objection before the court makes its decision.

Her next major step is scheduled for November 2, when a judge is expected to consider the petition. If the legal requirements have been satisfied and there are no successful objections, the court can approve the change.

Vivienne made the decision after turning 18:

Vivienne signed paperwork seeking the change on July 12, her 18th birthday, before the petition was formally filed with Los Angeles County Superior Court on July 20, according to court documents cited by Us Weekly. She listed the reason for the request simply as “personal.”

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The request would change her full legal name from Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt to Vivienne Marcheline Jolie.

The move did not come entirely without precedent. Vivienne had already begun using Jolie professionally two years earlier. In 2024, she was credited as Vivienne Jolie in the Playbill for the Broadway musical The Outsiders, which she worked on alongside her mother. The production later won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

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Vivienne and Angelina also attended the 2024 Tony Awards together, coordinating their looks for the red carpet before celebrating the musical’s win with the cast and creative team.

She follows several of her siblings:

Vivienne is the latest of Jolie and Pitt’s children to formally seek the removal of “Pitt” from their legal name. Her sister Shiloh Jolie filed her own petition after turning 18 in 2024, and the change was officially granted that August.

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More recently, Maddox and Zahara filed separate petitions seeking to become Maddox Chivan Jolie and Zahara Marley Jolie. Both have also completed California’s newspaper publication requirement, with hearings scheduled for September 14 and September 28, respectively.

The process requires adults seeking a legal name change in California to file court paperwork and, in most cases, publish an Order to Show Cause in an approved newspaper once a week for four consecutive weeks. 

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Once that step is complete, a judge can make a decision at a hearing or, depending on the court and circumstances, approve the request without requiring the petitioner to appear.

Family tensions remain in the spotlight:

The name changes have unfolded against the backdrop of years of reported tension between Pitt and several of his children following his 2016 split from Jolie.

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Jolie and Pitt married in 2014 after nearly a decade together. Their divorce was finalized in late 2024, although the former couple has continued to face separate legal disputes surrounding Château Miraval, the French winery they once shared.

Neither Vivienne nor her parents has publicly explained the specific circumstances behind her decision beyond the “personal” reason included in her court filing.

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A source close to Pitt, however, told TMZ following the latest development that they believe Jolie contributed to the distance between Pitt and the children. Jolie has not publicly responded to that latest claim.

For Vivienne, the November hearing could mark the final legal step in a change she has already been signaling publicly for more than two years.