Kanye West is no stranger to reinvention, yet his latest apparent moniker shift stirred quite a buzz. Initially, it seemed as though the rapper, who legally transformed his name to Ye nearly four years prior, had embarked on yet another name change, this time adopting the handle "Ye Ye." However, his team swiftly clarified the misconception. "There exists no 'Ye Ye,'" West's representative clarified in a statement to US Weekly on June 16th, attributing the confusion to "a peculiarity stemming from an online form necessitating entries in both the first and last name fields."
The flurry of misunderstanding arose when West's chief financial officer, Hussain Lalani, referred to the "Gold Digger" hitmaker as Ye Ye in multiple filings submitted to the California Secretary of State. E! News obtained these documents on June 10th, revealing that Ye Ye was listed as the "manager or member" for West's companies: Yeezy Apparel, Yeezy Record Label, and Ox Paha Inc.
West had previously shed light on his choice of Ye, emphasizing its status as "the most frequently used word in the Bible." "In biblical terms, it signifies 'you,'" the 48-year-old elaborated in a 2018 interview with radio host Big Boy. "Hence, I am you, I am us, it's us. It was a shift from Kanye, meaning the only one, to Ye—mirroring our virtues, flaws, confusion, and beyond."
That very year, West, who co-parents North, 12, Saint, 9, Chicago, 7, and Psalm, 6, with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, even titled his eighth studio album Ye, as it served as "a deeper reflection of our collective identity." He added, "I sought something that resonated with energy. Given all that the universe has bestowed upon me, I desired a name that aligned with that essence."
Despite his name change, West had continued to operate his verified Twitter account (then known as X) under his birth name handle—until he announced in May his intention to part ways with the @kanyewest moniker and its 33 million followers. "I'm finally hanging up the @kanyewest Twitter hat since my name is Ye now," he tweeted on May 31st. "It's time to embark on a ye account; it is what it is."
Yet, West is hardly the only Hollywood figure to have embraced a name change or adopted a stage name.
