The artist formerly known as Kanye West has officially changed his name to Ye. The name change was approved by a Los Angeles court.
Ye initiated formal legal proceedings to get his name changed back in August. The change of name request was expected to be successful unless there was evidence of the new name being used to commit fraud. Identifying no fraud risks, the LA court has now signed off on the change.
Ye was born Kanye Omari West in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977. His parents, Ray West and Dr. Donda C. West, divorced when Ye was three years old. Ye and his mother then moved to Chicago.
Ye has been a nickname throughout West’s career. He used it as the title of his eighth studio album, which contains just seven tracks and 23 minutes of music.
Around the time of Ye‘s release, he told LA radio DJ Big Boy about his preference for “Ye”.
“I belive ye is the most commonly used word in the Bible,” he said. “In the Bible it means you. So, I’m you. And I’m us. It’s us. It went from being Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye, just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused—everything. It’s more of a reflection of who we are as beings.”
