Portia de Rossi to take on Ellen DeGeneres last name

New York (ANI): Portia de Rossi has filed a petition to legally change her last name to wife Ellen DeGeneres", according to reports. The papers, in Los Angeles Superior Court state that de Rossi wants her name to become Portia Lee James DeGeneres. According to TMZ, the reason stated is: "Petitioner is taking the last name of her spouse."

DeGeneres and de Rossi were wed in Los Angeles in 2008 during the narrow five-month window between California's Supreme Court ruling that gay marriage was legal and a public referendum striking it down.

A federal judge last week ruled that the referendum's ban is unconstitutional and the matter is likely to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, reports the New York Daily News. If de Rossi's petition is approved, it would not be her first name change — she was born Amanda Lee Rogers, but changed her name when she was 15.