Sean 'Diddy' Combs Is Legally Changing His Middle Name — and He Teased the Moniker in 2017

Ashley Boucher

Sean “Diddy” Combs is reinventing himself yet again!

The 49-year-old rapper has filed a petition in Los Angeles to change his middle name from “John” to “Love,” a rep for Combs confirmed to PEOPLE Thursday.

Nearly two years ago, Combs teased the change to “Love,” although he later said that he was joking about the new moniker and encouraged people to call him by any of the names he’s gone by over the years.

“I decided to change my name again! My new name is LOVE aka Brother Love. #TakeDat” he said on Twitter in November 2017.

“Hey what’s up y’all? I have some very, very serious news,” he said in a video taken on a beach accompanying the tweet. “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,” he said with a shrug.

Sean
Sean

“I’m just not who I am 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,” he ended, giving a smooch to the camera.

RELATED: Diddy Says He ‘Was Only Joking’ About Changing His Name to ‘Brother Love’

But two days after sharing that video, the rapper revealed that he had been kidding around, and welcomed people to call him any of his various names.

Sean
Sean

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“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 in an Instagram video. “It was just part of one of my alter egos, and one of my alter egos is Love.”

He added: “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.”