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Kanye West files to legally change his name to Ye

The rapper cited ​”personal reasons” for the change.

Kanye West has filed a petition in court to change his legal name to his longtime nickname, Ye. As TMZ reports, West filed the legal paperwork on Tuesday (24 August). If the court approves the petition, West’s full name, Kanye Omari West, would be legally changed to the mononym, with no middle or last name included. In the documents, West cited “personal reasons” as the grounds for the name change.

It’s not the first time that West has expressed interest in changing his birth name to the well-known nickname. In 2018, following the release of his ye album, he tweeted, “the being formally known as Kanye West. I am YE.”

At the time, Kanye sat down with radio host Big Boy to discuss the nickname and its religious significance. “I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible, it means ‘you,’” said West. “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 confusion, everything. The album is more of a reflection of who we are.”

The potential name change comes amid preparations for West’s third listening event for his much-delayed tenth studio album Donda. This time, West will host an event in Chicago’s Soldier Field, where he’s currently in the process of replicating his childhood home in the stadium ahead of Thursday’s (26 August) listening party. Earlier this summer, West held two editions in Atlanta. He also teased new music in Beats ad starring Sha’Carri Richardson. 

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