No middle or last name, just Ye.

Famous (and occasionally infamous) rapper Kanye Omari West has gone by a number of nicknames over the course of his career. One of his favorite nicknames is “Ye,” which according to him, is one of the most commonly used words in the Bible, meaning “you.” Yesterday, though, Ye stopped being West’s nickname, and started being his only name.

Back in August, West filed a legal petition to officially change his name from “Kanye Omari West” to “Ye,” simply citing “personal reasons” as his impetus for doing so. No middle or last name, just “Ye,” in a similar vein to “Prince” or “Sting.” Yesterday, a judge from the Los Angeles Superior Court officially approved the change. From this moment forward, there is no longer a man named Kanye Omari West. There is only Ye.

Kanye West is no more. After filing paperwork to change his name, the rapper, born Kanye Omari West, finally got what he asked for, and will be legally known as "Ye." https://t.co/iioO4cv6Ep

— CNN (@CNN) October 19, 2021

While surprising, this decision isn’t completely out of nowhere. Ye’s eighth studio album was also called “Ye,” and as far back as 2018, he was insisting on being called Ye instead of Kanye West. When he had his first child with his now ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, he wanted to name him “Ye,” though the two eventually settled on Psalm. He also toyed with the idea of legally changing his name to “Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West” back in 2019, though he didn’t go through with that one.