(NewsNation) — Kanye West has changed his name for a second time to “Ye Ye,” according to business documents.
West legally changed his name in 2018 to “Ye,” but business documents filed in California show that he is now going by “Ye Ye.”
Hussain Lalani, West’s chief financial officer, referred to the rapper as “Ye Ye” in multiple filings about West’s businesses. E! News reported that these documents listed Ye Ye as the “manager or member” of Yeezy Apparel, Yeezy Record Label and Ox Paha Inc.
It is not known if West, who shares four children with ex Kim Kardashian, has filed documents with California to legally change his name. State law in California requires those who change their name to publish it in the local newspaper before the petition is given to a judge.
“You must publish in a newspaper of general circulation that publishes legal notices in the county where you file your case,” the state’s courts website notes.
Kanye West drawn to ‘Ye’ name because of Bible
West previously stated in a now-deleted tweet that he was drawn to “Ye” because it’s “the most commonly used word in the Bible.” In an interview with radio host Big Boy, West said:
“In the Bible, it means ‘you.’ 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.”
West even named his eighth studio album “Ye,” claiming that it was “more of a reflection of who we are.”
“I wanted something that felt with the energy. Just with the universe was giving me, I wanted to match that energy,” he said.
West has faced controversy in the past, including in February when his X account was suspended for 12 hours after an antisemitic rant. Shortly after those comments on X, West appeared in a Super Bowl commercial directing to his website, which was selling T-shirts with Nazi swastikas.
His X and Instagram accounts were suspended in 2022 as well after he posted that he was going to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” In October 2022, he faced backlash for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at his Paris Fashion Week show.