7 Celebrities Who Changed Their Names After They Became Famous

01of 07

Kanye West

Robin Marchant/Getty

In 2018,Kanye Westannouncedon Twitterhe would be changing his stage name to Ye — following the release of hisYealbum.

Hesaid of the name switchat the time, “I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible, it means ‘you.’ So I’m you, I’m us, it’s us. It went fromKanye, which means the only one, to just Ye — just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confusion, everything. The album is more of a reflection of who we are.”

Three years later,West applied to change his legal namefrom Kanye Omari West to Ye — according to documents PEOPLE obtained in August 2021.

West said in the documents that his decision was for “personal reasons” — and provided no further explanation.

02of 07

Prince

US singer Prince performs on October 11, 2009 at the Grand Palais in Paris. Prince has decided to give two extra concerts at the Grand Palais titled “All Day/All Night” after he discovered the exhibition hall during Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel fashion show. AFP PHOTO BERTRAND GUAY (Photo credit should read BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images).Prince

In 1993, on his 35rd birthday, Prince announced that he would be changing his name to the “Love Symbol.”

At the time, the artistsaid in a statement, “It is an unpronounceable symbol whose meaning has not been identified. It’s all about thinking in new ways, tuning in 2 a new free-quency.”

Because it was, as the late artist pointed out, unpronounceable, he became known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince before changing back to simply Prince in 2000.

03of 07

Diddy

Sean “Diddy” Combs.John Shearer/Getty

04of 07

Jonathan Cheban

Jonathan Cheban.Bennett Raglin/Getty

05of 07

Lisa Bonet

Rich Fury/Getty

06of 07

Drake

Drake attends 2021 Billboard Music Awards.Rich Fury/Getty

Before he was a Grammy Award-winning rapper, he had us all in our feelings as Aubrey Graham onDegrassi: The Next Generation.Drake changed his name in 2009, using his middle name to release his first album in 2010. Started fromDegrassi, now he’s here!

07of 07

Snoop Dogg

Gary Miller/Getty Images

In 2012, Snoop Dogg surprised the world when he announced that he would be changing his name to Snoop Lion. One year later, ahead of an album with Dam-Funk, he changed his name briefly to Snoopzilla.

source: people.com