Diddy has revealed that only two people call him by his birth name while opening up about the various monikers he’s used.
The rapper, 53, whose real name is Sean Combs, but who has gone by Puffy, P Diddy, Diddy, and Puff Daddy throughout his career, shared the insight with James Corden during an episode of Carpool Karaoke on The Late Late Show on Thursday.
During their car ride, Corden was expressing his happiness to be sitting alongside Diddy when he admitted that he didn’t know how to address the music mogul.
“But now here’s my issue. I don’t know what to call you,” Corden explained, to which Diddy said: “You could call me any of the approved names.”
Diddy then reflected on the evolution of his name, with the record producer explaining: “I was born Puffy. Okay, and then I became P Diddy. Then they called me Diddy because I was so pretty. And then Puff Daddy.”
According to the “I’ll Be Missing You” singer, he then became “who I am now,” as he informed Corden that he now goes by Love.
“Not Brother Love, just Love,” he clarified.
After going through the list of names, Corden said he couldn’t “help but notice” that Diddy had “overlooked Sean”.
The acknowledgement prompted Diddy to reveal that his given name is “typically” used by his mother. “Sean is typically used by, you know, my mother. I don’t know, when you’re in trouble,” he revealed, with Corden then comparing the use to when his own “mum calls [him] by [his] full name”.
“So that’s not on the approved list,” Diddy added, while confirming Corden was not “approved” to use the name.
The record producer then revealed that there is one other person who is allowed to call him Sean, and that it’s Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter.
“There’s only one person, and I call him Shawn. That’s Jay-Z. We call each other Sean,” he said, adding: “Nobody else could call me Sean. There’s not a single person, outside of my mother, that should be calling me Sean.”
After clarifying what Corden should call him, the pair then joked about a potential nickname for the comedian in his next era of life, with Diddy claiming that he should also go by Love.
“Your nickname should be the same as mine. You should be Love too,” Diddy suggested. “We’re both Love.”
The suggestion went over well with Corden, who joked that he would be changing the name for the last week of his show to “The Love Love Show” or “The Love Love Show with Love Corden”.
Although he initially rejected the idea of Corden using his birth name, Diddy ultimately relented by the end of the episode, when he informed the actor he was allowed to call him Sean.
“Because you’re James Corden, you could call me Sean,” Diddy said. “Just you and Jay-Z.”
The honour proved overwhelming for Corden, who joked that it was “too much” for him.
Diddy is not the only one in his family to go by Love, as he announced the arrival of his daughter Love Sean Combs on 10 December 2022.
During the episode of Carpool Karaoke, the music mogul opened up about the arrival of his seventh child, with Diddy telling Corden that he’d made a playlist of “baby-making music” for himself and his partner.
“You know how there’s no more baby-making music? I had to make my new baby to… I had to go back [to] all 90s music and make a playlist to make a new baby to,” he revealed, before offering to send it to Corden.
