Kanye West Has Filed to Change His Legal Name to "Ye"
The request still has to be approved.
![beverly hills, california february 09 kanye west attends the 2020 vanity fair oscar party hosted by radhika jones at wallis annenberg center for the performing arts on february 09, 2020 in beverly hills, california photo by rich furyvf20getty images for vanity fair](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/sUb6Aus6EfppCfJuC62YFM-415-80.jpg)
Kanye West has informally been known as "Ye" for a while now, but the rapper wants to make it official. According to The Guardian, he has legally filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court to do away with "Kanye Omari West" and replace it with the much more succinct "Ye," for "personal reasons." A judge now has to approve the request before the name change can actually happen.
In a famous tweet posted in 2018, West had written, "the being formally known as Kanye West I am YE." This came a few months after the release of his album ye, which was received with skepticism, to put things mildly.
the being formally known as Kanye West I am YESeptember 29, 2018
The musician had explained the meaning of his chosen moniker in a radio interview that year (via Billboard). "I believe 'ye' is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible it means 'you,'" he said. "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."
West is currently in the process of promoting his latest album, Donda, which is set to be released on Aug. 27. In one song off the album, heard at a recent listening party, the rapper claims ex-wife Kim Kardashian is "still in love with" him. Kardashian filed for divorce from West back in February. The two share four children: North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm.
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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.
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