Rapper Kanye West Files to Legally Change His Name to ‘Ye’

Grammy award-winning rapper Kanye West just wants to be known as ‘Ye‘. He has filed a request in court to legally change his name. The Los Angeles Superior Court filing says the 44-year-old wants to get rid of his full name to his longtime two-letter nickname, Ye, with no middle name or last name, reports Associated Press. West, who has called himself Ye on his social media pages for years, tweeted that he wanted the change in 2018, saying, “the being formally known as Kanye West. I am YE.”

Why he wants to change his name you ask; well, he cites “personal reasons” for the change. However, before changing his name from Kanye Omari West to ‘Ye”, a judge must approve of the change before it becomes official.

So what does Ye mean? Apart from being his nickname for years, the moniker was the title of his 2018 album. In his earlier interviews, Kanye has said that, along with being a shortening of the first name he likes, that it’s a word used throughout the Bible.

I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible, it means ‘you.’ 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,” he had told radio host Big Boy.

Apart from that fans are coming up with several guesses regarding the name change. Many suspects that it has something to do with West’s divorce from Kim Kardashian, who still has ‘Kim Kardashian West’ as her legal surname, while their children share the last name West as well.

His loyal followers are still awaiting the release of his latest project, Donda, which was initially scheduled for release on 23 July. Rather than release the album on streaming platforms, Kanye has chosen to host listening parties across the USA. He has organised two of those in Atlanta, Georgia, and is now preparing to hold his latest gathering in his hometown Chicago on 26 August.