Why Tom Cruise’s Daughter Suri Ditched His Last Name

The teenager, who recently turned 18, previously went by Suri but has now dropped her father’s last name in favor of Noelle, which is her mother’s middle name.

Reports suggest that she made this decision as a tribute to her mother, who has been raising her in the absence of her estranged father.

Tom Cruise has been estranged from his daughter Suri since his split from Katie Holmes.

For most of her life, Suri has had a strained relationship with her father, Tom Cruise, stemming from his high-profile divorce from her mother, Katie Holmes, in 2012.

The Hollywood actor has largely been absent from the teenager’s life, although it is rumored that he has continued to provide financial support through child support payments to her mother.

Given their fractured relationship, Suri’s recent decision to drop her father’s last name in favor of her mother’s middle name, Noelle, was not surprising. However, insiders have emphasized that this choice was not intended to antagonize her father but rather to honor her mother, who has been her primary caregiver.

“She is showing praise for her mother by using her middle name,” the insider shared, adding that using the new name will help her blend in at college, per Page Six.

It is also believed that as she blossoms into adulthood, Suri “wants her own identity” to live by, one that is not connected to her movie star father.

While it is unclear if Suri has legalized the new name she goes by, it is within her legal right to do so as she has turned 18.

Suri has already begun using the name in public, per reports. It was first spotted as one of the names on the casting sheet of her high school play, “The Addams Family: A New Musical,” where she starred as Morticia Addams.

At the teen’s recent graduation from LaGuardia High School, the ceremony pamphlet also reflected the new name.

She was also called up with the name to receive her diploma and could be seen smiling and waving to her fellow students as she walked the stage.

In attendance at the event was her mother, with the pair posing for multiple pictures alongside Suri’s friends

The mother-daughter duo stunned in their attire for the ceremony. Suri wore a white gown with tiny straps, covering the cloth with her red graduation robe and a white sash. She styled her hair loosely and complemented the outfit with white sandals and floral embellishments.

As for Holmes, she dressed casually, wearing baggy long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, which she rolled up. Like her daughter, she styled her hair down but donned a silver-colored open-toe footwear.

Suri will reportedly attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh this fall and will likely continue using her new name while there.

Details of her plans for college became known when she was spotted dancing in a TikTok video with a fellow student while wearing the college’s sweatshirt.

Unsurprisingly, Cruise was absent from Suri’s graduation ceremony but was spotted several hours later attending Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in London.

His absence from the event raised eyebrows and was noticed by eagle-eyed fans who took to social media to comment on viral pictures of Suri.

“Where’s Tom?? This makes me sad,” a fan wrote, while another commented, “Where’s her Father? So sad…. he seemed to love his daughter.”

Some other fans also commented on her decision to drop Cruise’s name, saying it affected the actor emotionally.

One wrote, “I am sure her decision to abandon her last name must have hurt Tom greatly. This is sad.”

A year before Suri was born in 2006, Cruise proclaimed his love for Holmes by jumping up and down on Oprah Winfrey’s couch while on her talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2005.

Months later, the actors exchanged vows in a lavish ceremony, gracing the pages of Hello! magazine as Hollywood’s newest power couple.

However, the glamor of their marriage soon faded, culminating in Homes filing for divorce just five and a half years later, a decision which allegedly caught Cruise off guard.

Suri, then a mere six years old, found herself thrust into the spotlight amid speculation surrounding her parents’ split and Tom’s affiliation with Scientology.

Following Cruise and Holmes’ divorce, the actress was granted sole custody of their daughter, shielding her from the controversies of Scientology, while Cruise retained visitation rights.

However, despite his visitation rights, Cruise’s sightings with Suri dwindled over the years, with reports of prolonged absences of more than 100 days throughout the year.

During a legal deposition against tabloid magazines in November 2013, Cruise reportedly admitted that Holmes had filed for divorce “to protect Suri from Scientology.”