Kanye West Clarifies He’s Still Just “Ye” After Filing Error Sparks “Ye Ye” Rumors

17 June 2025

Creator: Frazer Harrison | Credit: Getty Images

Kanye West, now legally known as Ye, found himself caught in a swirl of speculation recently when business filings listed his name as “Ye Ye,” sparking rumors of a second name change. The saga began when documents submitted by his CFO, Hussain Lalani, to the California Secretary of State for entities like Yeezy Apparel, Yeezy Record Label LLC, and Ox Paha Inc. identified the manager or member of these ventures as “Ye Ye.” The appearance of a duplicated name in official filings led to rapid headlines suggesting that Ye had again reinvented his identity, this time as “Ye Ye”

However, Ye’s spokesperson was quick to quell the rumors, telling Page Six that “there is no ‘Ye Ye.’” According to the statement, the anomaly was a simple artifact of an online form requiring entries in both the first and last name fields. In tests, the system defaulted to duplicating the same name where two fields were mandatory hence triggering the erroneous listing of “Ye Ye”. The representative emphasized that, despite the confusion, Ye remains legally recognized as "Ye" a change he originally made in 2021, ending his use of the name Kanye West.

To understand how dramatic this confusion was, one must trace Ye’s journey. In 2018, he publicly adopted the mononym “Ye,” citing personal and spiritual reasons. He described the name as more emotionally resonant and universal “In the Bible it means ‘you.’ So, I’m you, I’m us, it’s us,” he explained. The following year, he released his album Ye, cementing the moniker’s place in his artistry. By October 2021, Ye had formalized the change through legal channels, applying and receiving approval to shed "Kanye Omari West" from official records.

Since then, Ye has taken a firm stance on his name. His former chief of staff penned a letter in March 2024 urging media outlets and industry insiders to respect the change, criticizing the continued use of “Kanye West” as a “slave name” and calling the mononym a marker of full personal autonomy. In late May 2025, the artist announced his plan to deactivate his @kanyewest account on X (formerly Twitter) and transition to a new one aligned with his preferred name.

Yet as eyes turned to Ye’s corporate records, the unexpected appearance of “Ye Ye” kicked up fresh questions. Some outlets suggested that this signaled a second reinvention or a subtle shift in his branding strategy. Many wondered whether he was embracing a longer moniker, or if the move reflected a more playful, multi-layered identity shift, as fans noted the resemblance to the classic French pop genre yé-yé

But Ye’s team insisted this was not a strategic pivot or public statement. The duplication simply resulted from a compliance requirement in digital filing systems, which demanded separate entries for "First Name" and "Last Name" even when an individual uses a single mononym . Lalan­i and his team resolved the issue: future filings will correctly list Ye without duplication.

This incident brings into sharp relief the intersection of celebrity, bureaucracy, and technology. For someone like Ye whose identity shift was both calculated and symbolic the glitch exposed how even the most intentional personal transformations can be misinterpreted by systems built for traditional naming conventions. In effect, a software form briefly granted Ye a second, unintentional identity without any conscious decision on his part.

The mistake also highlights the ongoing tension between Ye’s self-determined brand and the institutions that manage it. Filing errors, registrar forms, and state oversight offices operate on rigid structures while artists like Ye continually test the edges of traditional identity categories. His team’s swift response aimed to reset the narrative, doubling down on the permanence of the name "Ye" and clarifying that “Ye Ye” was never meant to be more than a technical quirk.

Despite the truth behind the false headline, the “Ye Ye” episode still resonated in popular culture. In an era when celebrities frequently rebrand sometimes mysteriously, fans and media remain hungry for signs of deeper meaning. The speculation around Ye Ye mirrored similar intrigue earlier in Ye’s career when he flirted with quantified names like “Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West,” even if he never fully adopted it.

Yet this incident remains decidedly mundane. It’s a tale not of identity metamorphosis but of paperwork imperfection. No petition has been filed to alter his name again. No legal motion awaits judge approval. And no new branding strategy is in the works.

But the story is a reminder: in Ye’s world, where names carry layers of spiritual and cultural significance, a small technical oversight can evolve overnight into cultural speculation. And even when corrected, the ripple of rumor and commentary can illuminate the ever-shifting boundaries of ego and identity in celebrity life.

In a landscape roiled by headlines, only one name remains irrefutable: Ye. Not Ye Ye, not Kanye West, just, simply, Ye. And if the occasional form tries to argue otherwise, his team will be ready to reaffirm the truth.