Vivienne Jolie Files to Drop Brad Pitt's Name Just One Week After Turning 18 — and She Is Now the Fourth of His Children to Do So

Jul 24, 2026 by apost team

Vivienne Jolie-Pitt turned 18 on July 12, 2026. Within a week, she filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court to drop her father's name.

According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Vivienne has asked to be legally known as Vivienne Marcheline Jolie — removing "Pitt" from the hyphenated last name she was given at birth. She listed the reason for the change as "personal." A hearing has been scheduled for November 2, 2026.

Vivienne, born July 12, 2008, is the fourth of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's six children to formally file or complete a name change petition. Shiloh filed on the day of her own 18th birthday in May 2024 and received court approval. Zahara and Maddox both published newspaper ads in the Los Angeles Daily Journal earlier this year — the required legal step under California law before a judge can approve a name change — with hearings scheduled for September 2026. Knox, Vivienne's twin brother, has not filed formal paperwork but was reportedly listed as Knox Jolie on his high school graduation certificate in June 2026.

Of the six children, Pax is the only one who maintains any contact with the Pitt side of the family, according to sources cited by Page Six in June 2026.

Vivienne had already been going by Jolie professionally. She was credited as "Vivienne Jolie" in the Playbill for the 2024 Broadway production of "The Outsiders," which she co-produced alongside her mother. The legal filing made that informal choice official — or at least, set it on the path to becoming so.

The petition was filed approximately one week after she turned 18. Sources close to Pitt told TMZ they believe Jolie has caused the rift between him and his children. Jolie's representatives have not commented.

Brad Pitt (2026) ( IMAGO / Image Press Agency)

The filing arrived the same week that Angelina Jolie, born June 4, 1975, told Variety in a June 17 interview: "I think my fighting spirit is finally back. I lost it for a bit." She credited her children with helping her find her way through. "My children have been my rocks," she said in a separate interview earlier this year.

Pitt, born Dec. 18, 1963, has not commented publicly on any of the name change filings. He and Jolie finalized their divorce in late 2024, though they remain in litigation over the Château Miraval winery in France — a dispute that has generated its own extensive legal documentation and shows no signs of resolution. Sources close to Pitt told TMZ they believe Jolie has caused the rift between him and his children. Jolie's representatives have not commented on that characterization.

The broader pattern across the six children is now well-established. Shiloh, Zahara, Maddox, Knox, and now Vivienne have each, in their own way and on their own timeline, taken steps to align their names with their mother's. The only difference between them is the legal stage each has reached.

Vivienne's filing adds one more data point to a story that began years before she turned 18. She had been Vivienne Jolie in the Playbill — working alongside her mother in the theater world, building her own professional identity, making her own quiet statement long before any court was involved. The petition filed in July 2026 is the formal version of a decision she had already made. She will, if the court approves in November, be Vivienne Jolie everywhere else too.

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Angelina Jolie (2025) ( IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire)

Do you think Vivienne's decision to drop Brad Pitt's name tells its own story about the state of this family? Let us know in the comments and pass this on to your family, friends, and anyone following this story.

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