A Los Angeles court has approved Kanye West’s request to change his legal name. According to a Deadline report, the Chicago rapper, born Kanye Omari West, has swapped his birth name to his longtime nickname, Ye. He no longer has a middle name or surname.
The emcee’s new moniker comes as no surprise. Reports of the rapper’s desired name change circulated the internet back in August, just days before the release of his highly anticipated project Donda, which is titled after his late mother. At the time, legal documents were obtained of the application, which showed that his proposed name was Ye.
Three years prior, the emcee took to Twitter to inform fans that he is “the being formally known as Kanye West.” “I am YE,” he tweeted. He also toyed with the idea of changing his alias to reflect his net worth. “When people say it’s crass to call yourself a billionaire, I say I might legally change my name to ‘Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West’ for a year until y’all understand exactly what it is…,” the “All Falls Down” star said at the 2019 Fast Company Innovation Festival. “It will be on the license plate.”
It is not clear why the Jesus is King star decided to change his name, but as a proud Christian, Ye’s Biblical connotations make sense. During a past interview with radio personality Big Boy, he shared his belief that Ye — which is the title of his eighth studio album — “is the most commonly used [word] in the Bible.”
“In the Bible it means ‘you,’” the Graduation star previously explained. “So I’m you, I’m us, it’s us. It went from Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye. Just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, everything. The album is more of a reflection of who we are.”
Ye’s new name coincides with the debut of his new haircut and reports that he filed a trademark to use “Ye” for a line of “fashion masks” and “sanitary masks for protection against viral infection.”