Diddy has been known by a variety of monikers over the years, including Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, and Puffy, and although he legally changed his middle name to ‘Love’ last year, it’s not how he wants to be addressed.
Appearing on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” the host bluntly asked: “What’s your name?”
Diddy laughed: “I decided that I am just going to go by the name Diddy.”
After Ellen pointed out his name change, he replied: “See, Diddy is my nickname. Love is my real name. I just changed my name to Love.
“Sean Love Combs, that’s what it says on my driver’s license, that’s my official name, Love.
“I’m Love. I am Love! I have made it.”
The 52-year-old star had a huge tattoo reading “Love” on the side of his body in honor of his new name.
“I wanted to make sure that if anybody didn’t get the message, they could see it. No, I love tattoos and I got that in one day,” he joked.
Diddy announced last year he had officially changed his middle name to Love, two years after filing a petition to do so.
But well before then, he announced on Twitter he’d decided he wanted to be known as Brother Love.
“I decided to change my name again! My new name is LOVE aka Brother Love. #TakeDat (sic),” he declared in November 2017.
In an accompanying video, he said: “Hey what’s up y’all? I have some very, very serious news. I’ve been praying on this, and I decided — I know it’s risky, it could come off as corny to some people, like yo — I decided to change my name again.
“I’m just not who I [was] before. I’m something different. So my new name is Love, aka Brother Love. I will not be answering to Puffy, Diddy, Puff Daddy, or any of my other monikers, but Love or Brother Love, okay? It’s my birthday, I feel good. God is the greatest, I give all the glory, and I thank my momma and daddy.”
But two days later, he insisted he was “only joking” and was simply introducing a new “alter ego”.
“Due to the overwhelming response to the media out there, and just to not wanting there to be any confusion, I was only joking. I didn’t change my name,” he said.
“It was just part of one of my alter egos, and one of my alter egos is Love.
“To set the record straight, because I have a lot of press to do in the next couple weeks, you can address me by any of my older names, but if you still wanna call me Love, you can call me Love, baby. But I was only playing.”
