Angelina's Kids Now Have Brad's Name

01/19/2006 at 12:35 PM EST

It's official: Angelina Jolie's children, Maddox, 4, and Zahara, 1, have the last name Jolie-Pitt.

In a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday, a judge approved the couple's name-change request. "I can confirm that Ms. Jolie's petition was granted today," said her lawyer, Evan Spiegel.

Last month Brad Pitt, 42, announced his plans to legally adopt Jolie's two children. Changing Maddox and Zahara's names is just one more step for the pair who are also expecting a child together.

"It's the idea that you love one another and you want to create a family together," a friend of the couple tells PEOPLE. "What's beautiful is you can do it by birth (or) by adoption."

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This latest news caps a life-changing year during which the couple went from costars (in last summer's Mr. and Mrs. Smith) to supercouple to, finally, Mommy and Daddy.

When they are not traveling the world, Jolie, Pitt, Maddox and Zahara live in Pitt's oceanside Malibu home.