Miley Cyrus Is Dropping Her Last Name & Her Dad Has Some Thoughts

Miley is going mononymous. The Grammy-winning singer shocked fans when she introduced her new musical era with a selfie simply captioned “MILEY,” along with dropping her last name Cyrus from her Instagram profile and changing her website domain to no longer feature “Cyrus” in its title. The bold move seems to be mainly an artistic rebrand, but it also raised eyebrows after the recent years of highly publicized drama within the Cyrus family. Despite the rough patch, dad Billy Ray Cyrus voiced his support for his daughter ditching the Cyrus name.

“Family means more than ever now. I always called my little girl Miley. Just … Miley,” Billy Ray wrote in a Sept. 2 social media post. The country music star recounted how he once performed under the name Cyrus before his label pushed him to go by his full name following the success of “Achy Breaky Heart.” Because of his own experiences, he can appreciate his daughter’s thought process: “I told Miley yesterday I felt good about her going with her first name. I mentioned Dolly and Cher. Thinkin’ about it more and more … Elvis .. Prince …and so on. It’s a natural progression for an iconic superstar legend. And the legend continues!”

Miley’s rebrand seems to be a result of her move to Atlantic Records at the end of July. She’s set to release her first album as just Miley (her tenth overall) titled Bass Persuades on Sept. 18.

Notably, the name change follows a turbulent period of time for the Cyrus family, which seemed to begin in 2022 with Billy Ray and Miley’s mom Tish announcing their divorce. As the divorcées entered new marriages (Billy Ray with singer Firerose, and Tish with actor Dominic Purcell), it became clear battle lines were drawn, especially after Miley omitted Billy Ray from her Grammys acceptance speech in 2024.

However, this feud seems to have been squashed now. At the end of 2025, Miley dedicated the emotional song “Secrets” to her dad, and Billy Ray showed up at the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary special this summer to reminisce about the show with his daughter.

So, although Cyrus may not gone from Miley’s name professionally, it seems like she’s closer with her family than ever right now.