Maddox Jolie no longer has Brad Pitt’s surname legally, months after beginning the court process to remove it.
A Los Angeles County judge granted the 25-year-old’s petition on September 14, changing his legal name from Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt to Maddox Chivan Jolie. PEOPLE reviewed the public court records and confirmed that Maddox is now the second of Angelina Jolie and Pitt’s six children to complete a legal name change removing “Pitt.”
The change had already appeared in Maddox’s professional work. Earlier this year, he was credited as Maddox Jolie for his work as an assistant director on his mother’s film Couture, after previously appearing as Maddox Jolie-Pitt in the credits of Maria.
His younger sister Shiloh completed the legal process in 2024. Zahara and Vivienne have since filed their own petitions to remove “Pitt,” putting four of Jolie and Pitt’s children at various stages of formally changing or having already changed their surnames.
A Judge Approved Maddox’s Petition With No Objections
Maddox appeared remotely with his attorney, Peter Kenneth Levine, for Monday morning’s hearing, according to Page Six. Judge Virginia Keeny presided over the matter in Los Angeles Superior Court.
“There are no objections, the petition for change of name is granted,” the September 14 minute order states. The court then signed and filed the decree formally changing his name to Maddox Chivan Jolie.
Maddox began the process on May 28 and listed his reason simply as “personal.” As part of California’s adult name change procedure, notice of his petition appeared in the Los Angeles Daily Journal once a week for four consecutive weeks, on June 10, June 17, June 24 and July 1. Proof of publication was filed with the court on July 7, according to El País.
Publishing the notice is a standard part of the California process rather than a separate public announcement. The state’s court guidance explains that adult applicants generally file a petition, complete the required notice procedure and receive a decree once the court approves the request.
Maddox Was Already Using Jolie in His Film Work
The court decree makes official a change that had become visible months earlier through Maddox’s work behind the camera. He was credited as Maddox Jolie on Couture, Alice Winocour’s drama starring Angelina Jolie.
That represented a change from his work on the 2024 Maria Callas biopic Maria. The Independent reported that Maddox worked as a production assistant on that film and was still credited as Maddox Jolie-Pitt.
His involvement in his mother’s projects goes back much further. Maddox served as an executive producer on Jolie’s 2017 film First They Killed My Father, based on Loung Ung’s memoir about surviving the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Jolie has continued working with several of her children while resisting the idea that they are necessarily building traditional Hollywood careers. In a recent interview, she said collaborating with them can be enjoyable, but when they are together she remains “just Mom” rather than treating the family relationship like a professional arrangement.
Shiloh Was the First Sibling to Complete the Legal Change
Shiloh became the first of Jolie and Pitt’s children to legally remove “Pitt” from her surname. She filed on her 18th birthday in May 2024, requesting that her name be changed from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie.
A Los Angeles judge approved the request that August. Her attorney, Peter Levine, emphasized at the time that Shiloh had made the decision independently and that the newspaper notice associated with the case was simply part of the required legal procedure, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Zahara, 21, is now following the same court process. She had already been publicly using Zahara Marley Jolie, including during her 2023 Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority induction and when her name was announced at her May 2026 graduation from Spelman College. Her formal petition asks the court to make Zahara Marley Jolie her legal name, with a hearing scheduled for September 28.
Vivienne filed shortly after turning 18 in July, asking to change her legal name from Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt to Vivienne Marcheline Jolie. She had already been credited as Vivienne Jolie in the Playbill for Broadway’s The Outsiders, where she worked with her mother. The Los Angeles Times reports that her hearing is scheduled for November 2.
Maddox’s Jolie-Pitt Name Dated Back to Brad Pitt’s Adoption
Angelina Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia in 2002 when he was an infant. After Jolie and Pitt became a couple, Pitt later adopted Maddox and Zahara, and the children began carrying the Jolie-Pitt surname.
Maddox remained the eldest of the couple’s six children as their family expanded to include Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne. Jolie and Pitt married in France in 2014 before separating in September 2016.
Their divorce stretched across years of litigation before they reached a settlement in December 2024. Reports about Pitt’s relationship with the children have continued since then, but Maddox himself has not publicly explained his name change beyond the reason listed in his court petition.
That filing uses only one word: “personal.”