Former President Barack Obama Reacts to Malia Obama Dropping Last Name Professionally
These celebrity kids are cruising into a new chapter of life. Without their parents well-known names.
Take, for instance, how Barack Obama and Michelle Obama‘s daughter Malia Obama distanced herself from her family name for a project, choosing to call herself Malia Ann in the credits of her film The Heart.
“I was all like, ‘You do know they’ll know who you are,'” her dad recently said of the warning her gave Malia. “And she’s all like, ‘You know what? I want them to watch it that first time and not in any way have that association.’ So I think our daughters go out of their way to not try to leverage that.”
Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise‘s daughter Suri Cruise recently revealed she’s going by a new name, dropping her dad’s stage name and instead using Suri Noelle (an homage to her mom’s middle name) at her high school graduation earlier this year.
She and Malia are not the only ones to make a change to her surname after reaching adulthood.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt‘s daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt filed to legally drop her dad’s last name on her 18th birthday in May, requesting to go by Shiloh Jolie moving forward. Likewise, her sister Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, 16, opted to go by Vivienne Jolie in the playbill of The Outsiders musical she worked on earlier this year.
Andrea Staccioli/ Insidefoto/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images; Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
And Rob Schneider‘s daughter Tanner Elle Schneider—who you’ll know as country singer Elle King—understands that motivation all too well.
“I wanted to be myself,” Elle told ABC News in 2015 of her decision to give herself a new moniker. “I am my own person.”
“It’s not that I wanted to be a famous person. I wanted to be a performer,” she continued. “But I worked really hard and I did everything myself.”
Meanwhile, other legacy performers are dropping both their middle and surnames, creating succinct one-word stage names. Read on to see more celebrities’ kids who ditched their famous monikers.
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Suri Cruise
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes‘ daughter went by Suri Noelle—her first name and her mom’s middle name—for her high school graduation ceremony in June 2024.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Malia Obama
Former U.S. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama‘s daughter Malia Obama dropped her last name to go by just her first and middle names—Malia Ann—when credited on her 2023 film project The Heart.
Andrea Staccioli/ Insidefoto/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images; Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt
On her 18th birthday in May 2024, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt legally filed to change her name to just Shiloh Jolie after mom Angelina Jolie, dropping dad Brad Pitt‘s surname.
Getty Images for GQ
Olivia Jade
Designer Mossimo Giannulli and actress Lori Loughlin‘s daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli doesn’t use her last name as an influencer, going by Olivia Jade for her YouTube career.
Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images forAudacy’s Leading Ladies 2024
Elle King
Rob Schneider‘s daughter was born Tanner Elle Schneider but decided to go by Elle King (her middle name combined with her mom London King‘s surname) for her singing career.
Desiree Navarro/Getty Images
Samia Najimy Finnerty
Hocus Pocus star Kathy Najimy and The Hangover‘s Dan Finnerty share daughter Samia Najimy Finnerty, but she dropped their monikers to go by just Samia for her stage name as a singer.
Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images
Nicolas Cage
August Coppola—the brother of Francis Ford Coppola—welcomed son Nicolas Kim Coppola with dancer Joy Vogelsang. However, you know him by a different name: Nicolas Cage, inspired by superhero Luke Cage.
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Christian Dior
Willow Smith
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith‘s daughter dropped her last name to go by WILLOW as her music stage name.
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