From Angelina Jolie’s kid to artist Elle King, here’s all the celebrity kids who changed their famous family surnames.
Having a celebrity last name comes with its own set of challenges and privileges. While it opens doors to exclusive opportunities and instant recognition in the entertainment industry, it also brings intense scrutiny, constant pressure, and high expectations to live down to the family’s legacy. Celebrity kids like Malia Obama and Shiloh Jolie have had minor changes to their names while Elle King entirely changed her name to create her own identity.
Here are all the celebrity kids who dropped their parents’ last names.
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt To Shiloh Jolie
One of the six kids of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt legally filed for a name change on her 18th birthday and dropped “Pitt” from her last name. Actually, she isn’t the only Jolie-Pitt sibling to have Pitt removed from their last name. The 15-year-old Vivienne was listed as Vivienne Jolie when she appeared in the Playbill for the Outsiders Broadway show. Also, Zahara, the older sister of Vivenne introduced herself as Zahara Marley Jolie at her initiation into the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority at Spelman College. Not to mention Angelina herself dropped her father’s surname in 2002 after a contentious relationship with dad Jon Voight.
Tanner Elle Schneider to Elle King
The daughter of comedian Rob Schneider and model London King, the famous singer Elle King changed her name from Tanner Elle Schneider because she wanted to create an identity of her own when she pursued the music industry. She told People in 2023, “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. I want to have a life built for myself, and I want to know that I did it.”
Malia Obama to Malia Ann
Being the daughter of former president Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Malia changed her name to avoid any preconceived notions. When she debuted her short film at the Sundance Film Festival in January, she went by Malia Ann, her middle name, and dropped her recognizable last name. Her short film, The Heart, is also about a grieving son who discovers an unusual request left by his mother in her will.
Suri Cruise to Suri Noelle
Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s daughter, Suri is a high school graduate now and during her graduation ceremony at New York City High School, her name was announced as Suri Noelle instead of Suri Cruise.
Micheál Neeson to Micheál Richardson
To honor his mother Natasha Richardson, Liam Neeson’s son Micahel dropped his last name after she died from blunt force trauma following a skiing accident in 2009. Reflecting on this, Liam told Andy Cohen on Radio Andy in 2020, “I think he did the right thing. It was a lovely homage… Natasha’s family, mother and sisters were very touched by it as indeed I was.”
Mamie Gummer to Natalie Stern
At 20 months, actress Mamie Gummer didn’t have much choice as her mother and famous actress Meryl Streep decided to change her name to Natalie Stern when she appeared in the 1986 film Heartburn. The reason behind the change was to protect her identity. But as she grew older, Gummer decided to take back her given name. Similarly, Streep’s youngest daughter, actress Louisa Jacobson also doesn’t use her family surname; however, due to Screen Actors Guild restrictions, she cannot distance herself from her recognized family.
Nicolas Coppola to Nicolas Cage
Because of his famous uncle Francis Ford Coppola and cousin Sofia Coppola, Nicholas Cage wanted to distance himself from his famous family name. Although he would have gained a significant advantage in Hollywood by having an Oscar-nominated director for an uncle, even in the ‘80s, Cage was eager to drop it. The actor recalled changing his name with Wired, “People would not stop saying things like ‘I love the smell of Nicolas in the morning.’ 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.”
Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez decided to use his father’s real last name and chose to forgo the stage name, Martin Sheen that his dad used throughout his career. Born as Ramon Estevez, Sheen expressed to Closer Weekly that he regrets being influenced to change his last name to Hollywood and is happy that his son has retained it. His other son, Charlie, uses Sheen’s name professionally. Sheen said, “The only influence I had on Emilio was to keep his name. When he started out, his agent was advising him to change his name to Sheen and he wouldn’t do it. And I thank God he didn’t.”
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