Famous kids who dropped celebrity parent’s last name

While there are many benefits to being a celebrity’s child, some wish to keep their famous relative’s name at a distance.

Numerous well-known kids have chosen to alter their names, whether it’s because they want to forge their own path without the shadow of their renowned surname or because their relationship with their famous parent is strained.

The likes of Suri Noelle and Malia Obama have made minor changes to their names—although for completely different reasons—whereas people like Elle King changed theirs entirely.

Here, Newsweek has rounded up some celebrity kids who have dropped their parents’ last names.

Angelina Jolie Voight to Angelina Jolie

Angelina has had an on-again, off-again relationship with her actor father, Jon Voight, for years, stemming from her childhood when he cheated on her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, during their marriage.

The tension between them continued when Voight was unaware of Jolie’s wedding to Brad Pitt in 2014. Last November, Voight openly criticized his daughter in a video shared to X, formerly Twitter, for her social media posts defending Palestinians instead of Israelis.

Jolie decided to legally change her name from Angelina Voight to Angelina Jolie—her middle name—in 2002.

“I do not want to make public the reasons for my bad relationship with my father,” she said in a statement at the time. “I have determined that it is not healthy for me to be around my father.”

Newsweek has reached out to representatives for Angelina Jolie and Jon Voight for comment.

Shiloh Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Jolie

Following in the footsteps of her mother, the 18-year-old daughter of Jolie and Brad Pitt has had her name-change request approved by a judge in the Superior Court of Los Angeles, according to court documents obtained by Page Six.

After years of reported conflict with her father, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt has officially removed “Pitt” from her name and change it to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie.

She isn’t the only child in her family to drop Pitt from their surname. While the changes haven’t been made legally, Vivienne and Zahara have done the same thing.

Vivienne, who was credited as a producer on her mother’s Broadway production, The Outsiders, was listed as Vivienne Jolie on the playbill.

In 2023, Zahara became a member of the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha at Spelman College. As Zahara introduced herself during her induction ceremony, she notably skipped mentioning her famous dad’s last name.

As her sorority sisters stood in formation, she said: “My name is Zahara Marley Jolie. Coming all the way from the Golden State in the city that is full of angels, Los Angeles, California.”

Newsweek has contacted Angelina Jolie’s representatives and previously reached out to Brad Pitt’s team, who declined to comment on his children going forward.

Suri Cruise to Suri Noelle

When Katie Holmes’ daughter with Tom Cruise graduated high school in New York City, her name appeared in the graduation ceremony program as “Suri Noelle” instead of the usual “Suri Cruise.” Noelle is Holmes’ middle name.

She also used the new name when playing Philoclea during a performance of Head Over Heels, with the casting sheet revealing she was not going by her birth name.

According to numerous reports over the years, Cruise allegedly has an estranged relationship with his daughter and ex-wife.

Cruise and Noelle haven’t seen each other since 2012, per Page Six, which also reported that Holmes was adamant about keeping their daughter from being indoctrinated into Scientology, which Cruise is famously a member of.

Holmes has allegedly signed nondisclosure agreements that forbid her from discussing her past marriage to the Mission Impossible actor.

Newsweek has reached out to representatives for Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise for comment.

Tanner Elle Schneider to Elle King

The daughter of comedian Rob Schneider and model London King—who were married from 1988 to 1990—changed her name from Tanner Elle Schneider to Elle King when she decided to pursue a music career.

“I wanted to be my own person. I never wanted to borrow money from anybody, and I’ve worked hard for my family and for me,” she told PEOPLE in February 2023. “I want to have a life built for myself, and I want to know that I did it.”

King has recently spoken out about her estranged relationship with her father. The “Ex’s and Oh’s” singer appeared on an episode of Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast in August 2024 and claimed that her father sent her to “fat camp as a kid,” which she called toxic.

While he brought her to movie sets, King said she’d get in “f***ing trouble” if she ever got in the way of him working. The singer added: “I don’t want to be associated with him.”

The Hot Chick star responded to his daughter’s comments in an episode of The Tucker Carlson Show podcast that same month.

“I want to just tell my daughter: Elle, I love you, and I wish I was the father of my 20s that you needed. I clearly wasn’t, and I hope you can forgive me for my shortcomings,” he said.

“If you love somebody completely, you just—I love her. And all I want for her is to be happy and to heal from this,” he said. “I apologize completely for and accept responsibility for not being the parent that I am now with my new kids. She didn’t get that, and I missed a lot.”

Newsweek has reached out to a spokesperson for Elle King.

Nicolas Coppola to Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage is one of Hollywood’s most famous actors—and he comes from an incredibly famous family.

On his father’s side, he is a nephew of critically acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire. He also has a variety of successful cousins, including directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola and actors Robert and Jason Schwartzman.

While some may think he would have held on to the Coppola surname to open doors, he was anxious to distance himself from his famous family when trying to make a name for himself in the entertainment industry.

“People would not stop saying things like, ‘I love the smell of Nicolas in the morning,'” he told Wired, referring to his uncle’s film Apocolypse Now.

“I decided, I don’t need this, and I changed it to Cage. It’s a combination of Luke Cage from Marvel Comics … and John Cage, the avant-garde composer. Speaks volumes about what I’ve been up to ever since.”

Newsweek has reached out to spokespeople for Nicolas Cage for comment.

Malia Obama to Malia Ann

While she hasn’t changed her name legally, there was one occasion where Malia Obama—the daughter of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama—decided to go by Malia Ann. Like Jolie and Noelle, Ann is her middle name.

She made this decision to dispel any stereotypes associated with being the daughter of a former president when she debuted her short film at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, she screened The Heart, which tells the story of a bereaved son whose mother made an odd request of him in her will.

Newsweek has reached out to representatives for Malia Obama for comment.

Willow and Jaden Smith

Willow and Jaden are the famous offspring of celebrity couple Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. While the siblings haven’t ditched their last names for good, they have stopped using them during their music careers.

During an interview on The Zane Lowe Show, Jaden explained why he decided to drop his last name and revealed Willow had started going by just her forename first.

“I realized that Willow changed her name to Willow at some point in time. And that she was no longer Willow Smith,” he said.

“Yeah, it took me a while. It took me a while. Because if you look Willow Smith up, it’ll still come up. But then it took me a while to see that it was just Willow. And I was like, ‘Yo, that’s so strong. You feel like you don’t have to say your last name. You’re just Willow.'”

He added: “I create different characters for myself and that’s also one of the reasons I love [David] Bowie so much, but I create different characters for myself and it’s like Jaden, that’s music, and Jaden Smith, that’s 501(c)(3), that’s acting in movies. I wanted to just make that little distinction there, just a little bit so that I could just…different things are happening.”

Newsweek has contacted spokespeople for Willow and Jaden Smith for comment.

Vivian Jenna Wilson

Elon Musk’s transgender daughter changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson during her transition, dropping Musk in favor of her mom’s maiden name.

After Musk claimed his “son” was “killed by the woke mind virus” in an interview with Dr. Jordan Peterson for Daily Wire, Wilson took to Threads, a feature on Instagram, to share her thoughts about her father.

“You are not a family man, you are a serial adulterer who won’t stop f***ing lying about your own children,” she said. “You are not a christian, as far as I’m aware you’ve never stepped foot in a church. You are not some ‘bastion for equality/progress.’ You called arabic the ‘language of the enemy’ when I was 6, have been sued for discrimination [sic] multiple times, and are from Apartheid South Africa.”

Elsewhere in the Threads post, Wilson accused Musk of lying about his efforts to make humans a “multi-planetary species.”

“You are not ‘saving the planet,’ you do not give a f*** about climate change and you’re lying about multi-planetary civilization as both an excuse, and because you want to seem like the CEO from Ready Player One,” she continued.

“You single-handedly disillusioned me with how gullible we are as a species because somehow people keep believing you for reasons that continue to evade me.”

Newsweek has reached out to Elon Musk via Tesla for comment.