Malia Obama Makes a Bold Name Change and Sets out to Build Her Own Legacy

Although many recognize Malia Obama as the former first daughter, she is also an emerging filmmaker with several credits to her name. She was a staff writer for the Prime Video limited series Swarm and even wrote and directed the short film The Heart.

As she continues making a name for herself in the film industry, Malia has decided to drop her last name professionally. Here's everything we know about the former first daughter's name change and her legendary family's response.

Professionally, the daughter of former president Barack Obama goes by her first and middle names alone: Malia Ann. She dropped her last name for both Swarm and her directorial debut, The Heart, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Malia's family, particularly her father, is not surprised by this choice. During the Oct. 29, 2024, episode of the Pivot Podcast, Barack Obama shared that both Malia and her sister Sasha are determined not to use their parents' influence in their careers.

"The challenge for [Michelle and me] is letting us give them any help at all," he said. "I mean, they're very sensitive about this stuff. They're very stubborn about it."

Barack also shared that the attention Malia and Sasha have received since leaving the White House "drives them nuts." He explained that their mindset is, "We're not looking for all that," emphasizing their grounded nature.

He also discussed Malia's emerging career, highlighting her film presentations at various fancy festivals while opting not to use the Obama name.

"I was all like, 'You do know they'll know who you are,'" he recalled. "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."