For years, the public watched Suri Cruise navigate one of the most high-profile childhoods in modern pop culture history. Today, however, the 20-year-old college student is officially forging her own identity on her own terms—and that begins with her name.
According to voter registration records obtained by PEOPLE following an initial report from Page Six, the Carnegie Mellon University student has legally dropped her famous father’s surname. Registered to vote in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where she enrolled as a freshman in October 2024, her legal name is now officially recorded as Suri Noelle.
The choice carries deep familial significance: Noelle is the middle name of her mother, actress and director Katie Holmes.
The name change marks the culmination of a subtle transition that began publicly during her high school graduation in June 2024, where she was listed in the ceremony program as Suri Noelle. (That same weekend, her father, actor Tom Cruise, was photographed attending Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium in London.)
While Holmes, 47, has consistently prioritized keeping her daughter’s life as private as possible, she shared a rare, candid reflection on Suri’s milestone transition into adulthood during an interview with Town & Country in August 2024.
“I’m proud of my daughter. Of course, I will miss the close proximity, but I’m really proud of her and I’m happy,” Holmes told the outlet at the time. “I remember being this age, this time of beginnings. It’s exciting to learn about yourself, and I loved that time, so it makes me happy to think about it like that.”
Beyond supporting her daughter’s independence, Holmes has also stepped up to shut down rampant speculation surrounding their personal lives. In December 2024, the Dawson’s Creek alum publicly debunked media reports alleging that Suri had inherited a substantial trust fund from Cruise upon turning 18.
Taking to Instagram to post a screenshot of an erroneous story published by the Daily Mail, Holmes wrote directly over the image:
“Completely false. Daily Mail you can stop making stuff up.”
She underscored the statement in her caption with a single, firm directive:
“Enough.”
Though Suri largely stays out of the public eye to focus on her studies in Pittsburgh, she continues to maintain a close relationship with her mother. In August 2025, she was spotted visiting Holmes on the New York City set of the upcoming film Happy Hours, walking through the city alongside her mother and Holmes’ former co-star, Joshua Jackson.
As Suri enters her twenties, her decision to legally adopt her mother’s middle name feels less like a headline-grabbing statement and more like a quiet, intentional step toward shaping her own narrative.
