Suri Cruise’s new name is a heartfelt nod to mom Katie Holmes – after teen, 18, dropped last name amid estrangement from dad Tom Cruise

Suri Cruise’s new name is a heartfelt tribute to her mother Katie Holmes, as the teen drops her last name amid her estrangement from father Tom Cruise.

Suri, the only child of Katie, 45, and Tom, 61, now goes by Suri Noelle, a nickname seen when she graduated from high school last week.

Noelle is the middle name of Dawson’s Creek star Katie, showing Suri’s solidarity with her mother.

Suri was also called Suri Noelle when she played Morticia Addams in her school’s production of The Addams Family: A New Musical in December.

A source said Page six: “She praises her mother by using her middle name,” while speculating that Suri made the change because she “wants her own identity.”

Suri is expected to attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh this fall.

Suri’s high school is LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, often referred to simply as LaGuardia, a public high school specializing in teaching visual and performing arts.

Suri, whose famous father played no role in her upbringing, has always been determined to follow her own path.

She applied to numerous colleges, with the artistic teen ‘leaning towards’ studying fashion.

Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design is one of the nation’s oldest and most highly regarded programs.

Now that she’s been admitted to the hallowed halls, a very chic mother, and a wardrobe reportedly worth $5 million, Suri is off to a good start if that’s her chosen path.

An insider told DailyMail.com: ‘She’s a smart girl and she’s turning into a very intelligent, mature young woman. She has a very close group of loyal friends and knows exactly where she comes from.’

But while Holmes will certainly be proud of her daughter’s stellar achievements, sources say she is “overwhelmed” at the thought of sending her little girl off to college.

Someone recently told DailyMail.com: ‘Katie is very proud of her, but is also extremely overprotective.’

Perhaps it’s no wonder, since Holmes has effectively raised Suri solo for the past eleven years.

Sixty-one-year-old Cruise’s only input into his daughter’s life was financial, and he has not been seen with his daughter since 2013, after Holmes left both the marriage and the Church of Scientology – the religion to which Cruise is so devoted.

According to their divorce settlement, Cruise agreed to pay Holmes $400,000 per year until Suri turned 18 and would also continue to pay her college tuition.

According to the terms of their agreement, even though he may be physically absent from his daughter’s life, he has and will continue to have “medical, dental, insurance, educational, college and other extracurricular expenses.”

But despite having little or no relationship with her father, sources say Suri is a happy and well-adjusted teen who enjoyed growing up in New York City.

Katie and Tom married in a Scientologist ceremony in Italy in 2006, when the Dawson’s Creek actress was 27 and the Mission Impossible star 44.

However, over the six years they were married, sources close to Katie suggested she felt increasingly intimidated by the church, where Tom remains a powerful figure today.

When the couple split in 2012, it was reported that Katie had chosen to end the couple’s marriage due to fears about raising her daughter as a Scientologist – a religion that Tom is incredibly devoted to.

Her decision to give up religion, as well as marriage, caused a great rift between the former spouses.

The relationship between Tom and Suri becomes increasingly distant over the years.

MailOnline revealed in 2016 that Katie feared she would lose Suri to Scientology after watching Tom’s first wife Nicole Kidman distance herself from the children she adopted with him, Bella and Connor, when they stayed within the church after she was left.

It was reported that Katie’s final straw came when members of the Church of Scientology entered the couple’s home.

Ron Miscavige, the father of Scientology leader David, who himself renounced the religion, told DailyMail.com that there is a “toxic” policy of “disconnection” within the church – something Katie feared would be implemented to keep her from her daughter.

Speaking to the website in 2016, five years before he passed away, Ron (who was estranged from David) explained that the decoupling policy ensures Scientologists cut off contact with any family member who leaves the church.

He claimed it happened to him not only with son David, but also with his two daughters, Denise and Lori.

He claimed members of the church’s staff, known as Sea Org, moved in with Cruise and Holmes.

This measure was intended to ensure that the organization’s most valuable celebrity was well cared for.

“That obviously didn’t sit well with Katie, and it damaged the marriage,” he said. “She and Tom had major disagreements about the way life should be lived.”

He added that Katie was concerned about the prospect of raising Suri in the church.

Although breaking away from the church and divorcing her most influential church member was a risky undertaking, Katie Holmes had a secret weapon: her divorce lawyer father, Martin Holmes.

According to People magazine, Katie had asked Martin for advice before taking steps to divorce Tom and that he had “helped orchestrate his daughter’s sudden split from the actor.”

“Marty is very rigid: it’s his way or the highway,” a Toledo attorney who has worked with Martin told the magazine.

“Marty believes there are only two kinds of rules: the court’s rules and his own, and he behaves that way.”

Katie was given sole custody of their daughter, while Tom was given “meaningful” visitation rights.

However, Tom has not been seen in public with his daughter for about a decade, and sources claim he now has little involvement in her life.

The Top Gun actor was last pictured out and about with his daughter on a trip to Disneyland in 2012, the year his divorce from Katie was finalized.

That same year, the Hollywood titan reportedly didn’t see his daughter for more than 100 days, between a vacation they took in August and Thanksgiving in November.