Kanye West legally changes name to Ye
Kanye West has legally changed his name to Ye.
The 44-year-old rapper initially filed a petition in California to legally change his name from Kanye Omari West to his long-used mononym in August.
On Monday, TMZ reported that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams approved the name change request.
In the filing, Ye marked the motivations for his request as "personal reasons." The Donda hitmaker has used the nickname in his work for years - first in his 2012 single Clique, featuring JAY-Z and Big Sean.
He hinted at the name change request back in 2018, when he tweeted "the being formally known as Kanye West. I am YE." Later that year, he dropped his eighth studio album under the nickname, sharing that it holds religious significance to him.
"I believe 'ye' is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible it means 'you,'" he said in an interview with Big Boy. "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."
In recent years the star has become increasingly public about his religious beliefs, staging his Sunday Service gospel events alongside Christian pastors.
TMZ also report that he has filed documents looking to trademark the use of his new name for use to sell, "sanitary masks for protection against viral infection," as well as fashion masks.
