The Weeknd wants to change his legal name, inspired by Kanye West: ‘maybe pull a YE’

The Weeknd seems to be ready to change his name! The artist is following Kanye West’s footsteps, suggesting that he might “pull a YE.” The rapper requested a name change in October 2021, with a judge approving his legal name, from Kanye Omari West to Ye.

Now The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, is sharing his thoughts with fans and followers on social media, taking to Twitter to write, “I feel like I should change my stage name to ABEL at this point lol.”

The 32-year-old singer, who just released the music video for ‘Out of Time’ featuring HoYeon and Jim Carrey, explained that he is interested in “maybe pull a YE and just legally change my name to ABEL. no last name. Like Madonna or Cher or Prince. I don’t know it seems like a lot.”

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He also wrote, “ABEL formally known as The Weeknd?” with fans sharing mixed comments about his decision.

The Weeknd previously explained the origin of his artistic name in 2014, explaining that he first thought of naming his first mixtape ‘The Weekend’ instead of ‘House of Balloons,’ however he decided to name it ‘The Weeknd’ without the ‘e’ as the first name was already taken by a Canadian band.

“I hated my name at the time though so I tried it as a stage name,” he previously shared, adding “It sounded cool.”