Tallulah Willis wants to legally change her name

Tallulah Belle Willis, 13, commissioned dad Bruce to make an announcement during his appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman last night.

Tallulah wanted me to mention on here tonight that she’s legallychanging her name from Tallulah to Lulah. Just Lulah. Doesn’t like hername, doesn’t like Tallulah. She’s legally changing it.

Bruce says he’s open to the idea, because he struggled with liking his name as well.

I didn’t care for my name…especially after my father told me that he named me after Bruce Wayne, Playboy millionaire.

Comments

shaynon on April 13th, 2007

i think that she is a 13 year old little girl, celebrity or not and that is the name her parents gave her…just shows u how much kids can get away with now a days..my opinion totally..

Mary on April 13th, 2007

But is HER name and IMO she has the legitimate right of doing so, is not her mother or father who is called every day by this name, that for me is not bad. Actually I think Talulah sounds better than only Lula that is also the name of Brazilian’s president. kind of odd to see someone be called something similar to an old guy.

zehava on April 13th, 2007

I legally changed my name around that age. I didn’t like the name I was given either. So much so that even my parents could see that. My new name was a decision that wasn’t taken lightly (even at that age), my parents helped me choose it. Out of respect for my parents, I did keep my original first name as my middle name. They spent a lot of time choosing the original name for me… but in all reality, it’s hard to pick a name for someone you’ve never met. How do you know it’s going to suit them and their personality? It’s like aiming in the dark. Sometimes it works out perfectly, sometimes it’s ok and other times you just miss entirely. Know what I mean?

I have been so much happier with my “new” name (it’s been well over 15 years now). Of course, it’s an entirely new name, not just a shortened form of my old one

We’ve told our kids that if they *really* dislike the names we picked out for them they’re welcome to legally change them.

Jessie on April 13th, 2007

Lulah is hardly that different (and doesn’t sound much better) but it is her choice. HOWEVER, she is only 13. Keeping that name for 5 more years, until she can legally change it herself and be sure would not be the end of the world. (Come on, who didn’t want to do something drastic at 13?)

NicoleMarie on April 13th, 2007

I do not blame her. I am not crazy about this name and I always wondered if she liked it. I am glad I like my name. If she is completely unhappy she should do it and besides she’s only taking three letters out of her name. Lulah is much prettier.

anonymousone9 on April 13th, 2007

As more celebrity kids grow up with names like Coco, Seven, Moses, and Apple, name-change petitions in hollywood will become commonly publicized celebrity news.

MB on April 13th, 2007

I doubt she knows the name of the Brasilian president. My family is from there and I had forgotten that’s who is president now. Also, some names are female in one culture and male in another. My non-Brasilian aunt picked out names for her son and daughter that are flipped gender names in Brasil which drove my grandmother nuts.

Still, I agree that I like Talulah better. It seems a little young to make that decision (teenage rebellion?) but as zehave pointed out that’s not necessarily true.

LM on April 13th, 2007

Do we have a newlink to that information? I’ve been trying to search for it.

No. Bruce was on the show last night, Joyce watched it and typed it up.

4pm – Starpulse just put up a story on it here – http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2007/04/13/bruce_willis_daughter_plans_to_change_he

dream_faerie76 on April 13th, 2007

I legally changed my given name the after I graduated from High School. I never could pronounce it and no one else could ever pronounce it. All I really did was change the spelling and pronounciation. My mom still calls me by my birth name which is fine. She was hurt at first, but understood over time why I did it. It was a big decision, but one I am glad I made.

I love unique names, but I wil remember what I went through once I have children. If Talulah wants to change her name I think she should wait once she gets a little older and more mature. But also if her parents are behind more power to her. I just hope she has no regrets down the road.

clair on April 13th, 2007

my friends name was Seemab. She hated the name and from a young age friends and family have called her Bobby. When she was 19 her parents allowed her to legally change her name to BOBBY.

Alex on April 13th, 2007

Zehava, do you mind me asking what your old name was? Also what did you name yourself?

Aleah on April 13th, 2007

I have to agree with Mary and Zehava. If Tallulah is really not comfortable with her name, she has the right to change it. Although I must reckon I find her a bit young to make such a big decision now (in my opinion, she should think about it a few more years) and I don’t see why she’d change it to just Lulah. Obviously Lulah is a name everyone already calls her by.

Alioop on April 13th, 2007

Hooray for HER!!! I’m sure she’s just the first in a long line of celebrity children that will be doing so!

My older sister out of love and respect for my parents has had to live with a name she hates and not a day goes by that she doesn’t wish she had had the courage to change it decades ago. It’s a very sad thing for her and I’m sure for others like her.

Celebrities seem to think that it’s their right to stick their children with crazy and outlandish monikers. The world is crazy enough, why should innocent children further suffer the teasing and ribbing from their peers for the first 18 years of their lives??? That’s cruel, IMO.

Liza on April 13th, 2007

I’ve always wanted to change my name from my full name Elizabeth to Liza since I was a small child. My parents have called me Liza from day one, and I dont feel like Elizabeth suits me as well as Liza does, IMO. My mom has told me it wouldnt hurt her feelings whatsoever but she always told me I had to wait until adulthood to do it. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. I just took my personal issues with nicknaming into consideration when naming my sons, Ezra and Eli. If they hate their names, then they can change them, but I dont think they can get any shorter than what they are, unless you call Ezra Ez, or something, w/e.
If it truly bugs her and her parents are willing, let her, ok. But I doubt it will happen.

Noelle on April 13th, 2007

I do hope that was a joke. She’s only 13, they shouldn’t legally change her name. Lots of young girls go through phases where they want nicknames or more “tomboy” names instead. When she gets older, she might want Tallulah back. Since in my opinion, it’s a gorgeous name, while Lulah seems a little dumb.

tink1217 on April 13th, 2007

If my daughter wanted to change her name I would let her. It is her name and she has to live with it. This is why I tried to give her a nice name so she would be happy with it. She is except for her middle name. My ex husband and I gave her his sisters name as a middle name and she now hates it. Basically because she cannot stand her real father. She wants to change her middle name to my middle name. Its flattering. And she is 18 now so its fine with me. I think at 13 it is young, but I think these girls are probably very well educated and very smart. I don’t think its a bad thing and I don’t think its “getting away” with anything by changing her name. In fact its only shortening her name from Tallulah to Lulah. I would be fine with it.

Lola on April 13th, 2007

Talulah is a stranger name but her sisters Rumor and Scout have worse names!

Keila on April 13th, 2007

I think a lot of the new generation celebrity babies will be doing so (or at least have the thought cross their mind) once they get to know how oddly their parents named them.. jmo.

Annie on April 13th, 2007

Isn’t that the point of nicknames? Why go and legally change your name if everyone calls you that anyway?

Devon on April 13th, 2007

When I was Talulah’s age, I wanted to change my name so badly. I was sick and tired of people thinking I was a boy, my middle name is my Grandmother’s maiden name (Johnston), so that didn’t help matters, plus at the time I actually hated my father so I wanted to change my name to my mother’s maiden name.

My mum understood why I wanted to change my name and was ok with it, but asked that I wait until I was 18 to make a decision. That would give the maturity and the time to decide. When I turned 18, my mum asked if I still wanted to, but I didn’t.

I’m glad I didn’t now. My name is who I am and I wouldn’t want to change that. I understand Talulah’s desire to change her name because she doesn’t like it, but she needs to realise that there may be a point in time when she will love her name.

Colleen on April 13th, 2007

I wanted to change my name. But in this day and age, my name is rarely used. I even checked in a baby namer site. I would’ve changed my middle name, since it’s my Aunt’s, but then I realized it’s not so bad. Even so, I refuse to give my kids family names. Sorry if that went off-topic.

maggie r on April 13th, 2007

colleen! that is my mom’s name and she is a labor and delivery nurse and she never gets baby colleens anymore. i personally love it and have every intention of naming one of my kids, either first name or middle name, colleen. it’s gorgeous!

Mel on April 13th, 2007

I am of two minds on this issue:

1. I think that if she really doesn’t like her name, of course she should be allowed to change it–and that’s okay, whether her name was something as “normal” as Mary, or as “weird” as RainbowBrite.

2. I think she should have to wait until she’s 18 to do so, speaking as someone who was once a 13 year old girl, and who once hated their name. When I was 13, I wanted to change my name from Melissa to Stacy (or Tiffany) SO badly, but it was (for me) part of the typical 13-year-old “hate one thing about myself one day, hate another thing the next” angst. 10 years later…while I may not be in love with Melissa, it is (in my eyes) much more appropriate for me than Stacy or Tiffany (both very trendy names at the time) would have been.

Carine on April 13th, 2007

I can understand where she comes from I hate my name as well its french and no one can ever say it Its Carine but people call me Karen Korean Carolyne you name it so when I was 16 I started using my nickname Caz so when people cant say it I just say call me Caz. Tallulah could just tell people to call her Lulah instead of going throught all the paperwork.

J.M. on April 13th, 2007

why change it legally, why not just tell people to call you Lulah (although to me Tallulah sounds better). I’m not keen on the name in the first place but it’s the name her parents chose and it’s different and unique. She’s 13 and she’s starting to realize that her name isn’t like normal names and at that age peer pressure plays alot. I don’t think they should let her legally change it but when she’s 18 and still wants to then fine. I grew up hating my name and wished I had names like all my friends (jessica, jennifer, stephanie) but then the older I got I was so happy to have my name because I was the only one in my class who had it and I only had ever met like two people with it. Now I hear it more often but that’s fine it’s still not an everyday overused name.
She’ll learn to appreciate her name later in life and if not then atleast she’s old enough to make that decision on her own.

Elle on April 13th, 2007

Perhaps she is not legally changing it, perhaps this is her telling people to call her Lulah (I know Bruce Willis said she was legally changing it, but just because it is intended now doesn’t mean she will follow through– and he did not say she is legally changing it anytime soon).

At any rate legally changing the name of a minor is a lot less complicated than changing the name of an adult.

She is not making a drastic change. If she was changing her name from Tallulah to Ava I might say she should wait a few years (both for her mind to change and the fashions to come and go) but this is a name she has already been using for awhile.

I like the name Tallulah, but it does seem to fit a certain type of person. A narrow name.

zehava on April 13th, 2007

Alex – my old name (and now middle name) is Erica. my new name is Zehava (Z’haw vah). It gets mispronounced all.the.time (Zeehawvah, Zehayvah, Zehayveeah), but I’ve never minded because I love it so much.

Changing my name is a decision I’ve never felt a even a pang of regret about.

JoyJoy on April 13th, 2007

Well its just a shortned name of her original in her case if she is not happy later on she can simply change it back.

Shmoo on April 13th, 2007

I don’t understand why Tallulah is being referred to as an outlandish name. The name is First Nations and has been around a long time. I know a few women and girls with his name. Same with Shiloh. I could never figure out the uproar over that one either. I actually thought it was rather common. I guess it all depends on where you’re from and how much you’ve travelled. Names move in and out of current vogue. I work in long term care, and our senior residents have names like Gertrude and Mildred. These were extremely common names in the twenties and thrities when these women were born. But now if someone used those names, blogs would be stuffed with complaints. Remember Hazel?

moog on April 13th, 2007

ok…this is kind of funny but my dogs name is Talulah and we have always called her “lula”.

I dont know what she would bother chnagiing her name legally when its no biggie to just go by her ‘nick name”

i would be like legaly changing Samanth to Sam, or Karen to Kari, or Jennifer to Jen. Whats the point?

georsan on April 13th, 2007

My name is Georsan. Go ahead, try to say it. I’ve heard so many versions. I’ve also heard such comments as “what kind of name is that”, “your parents must not like you”, “its so ugly”, “what’s your middle name….oh, I’ll just call you Jo then”. (Its Chinue) Those comments never came from kids at school, they came from adults (and still do). I haven’t always loved my name, but there’s nothing that could replace it. Its who I am, the combination of my parents, GEORge and SANdra. And Chinue? Its pronounced Shin-OO-Wee. Its means God’s gift. Its nice to know my parents valued me so.

Callen on April 14th, 2007

Hey my name is Callen.lol. but my mom did it in honor of my Grandpa. But everyone calls me callie. I could have switched it with my middle name which is Elena(A-Lay-Na).But im named that for a reason so I stuck with it.:)

Danielle, Celebrity Baby Blog on April 14th, 2007

I love the name Tallulah (though I don’t know if I would name my kid that). I’m sure she’s sick of having a name that’s a little unusual but she’s also only 13 years old and I think kids are starting to rebel a little at that age. She should be happy her name isn’t Rumer or Scout!

I agree with the folks saying she should go by Lulah as a nickname. Later, she might enjoy the unique name she has been given.

ang on April 14th, 2007

im gonna go with annie on this 1-lulah seems to be a nickname, so if u get called that most of the time, is it really worth the effort? if she wants to change it & bruce & demi r ok with it, that’s great, but hope she gives it lots of thought first.ppl always want to shorten ur name-if she does change it, what do ppl call her then? Lu?

Jared Mysko on April 16th, 2007

I was just searching that name because a good friend told me the meaning of it and I didn’t believe her. I wouldn’t even mention what she said because I know I will get beat up for it. I like someone named Tallulah here in Saskatoon but now I am at a loss for words. wateva, i dont think so…life is too funny sometimes….

Midge on April 18th, 2007

I agree that 13 might be a little young to allow her to do this, but she is the one who has to live with the name. I agree that many people, not just celebs name their children some crazy things. However, while Rumer, Tallulah, and Scout are not common names at least they were named after someone, and their parents didn’t just make these names up.