Singer Kanye West has officially changed his name and will be known as Ye from now onwards.
The rapper’s name change request was accepted by a judge in Los Angeles – a communications officer at the Los Angeles Superior Court confirmed.
The 44-year-old star filed the request in August, quoting “personal reasons.”
The rapper, best known for hits such as Gold Digger and Stronger, already used Ye as a nickname and in 2018 used it as an album title.
Soon after his album got released, he took over Twitter and announced: “The being formally known as Kanye West. I am YE.”
And since he has made the news official, his previous full name – Kanye Omari West – will no longer exist.
His Twitter handle was immediately changed to Ye, his Instagram account and website on the other hand were still using his previous name as of Tuesday.
As well as being a shortened version of Kanye, the new moniker also has religious significance for the star.
“I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible it means you. So it’s I’m you, I’m us, it’s us,” he said in an interview in 2018.
“It went from being Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, our everything.”
Later, in August, Ye released his latest album named ‘Donda’. It featured 27 tracks with a running time of two hours.
He then claimed his label, Universal Music Group, had released his much-delayed 10th studio album without his approval.
Apart from him, various other artists such as Prince, Snoop Dogg and Sean Love Combs also changed their names over the years. Some even changed their names too many times.
Moreover, Ye was also in the headlines earlier this month due to his split with wife Kim Kardashian – after nearly seven years of marriage.
The couple, who have four children together, are among the most recognisable stars in the world. Their marriage was one of the most closely followed celebrity partnerships of recent decades.
