EW.com rates P. Diddy's new name
The pros vote yea or nay on Puff Daddy's evolution
Just when we had purged our word processing programs of Prince’s old glyph, along comes Sean ”Puffy” Combs. In a March 28 interview, the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy announced his new moniker: P. Diddy. ”[If you see] ‘Puffy’ in the paper, it has a lot of baggage with it,” said the hip hop impresario, who was recently cleared of gun possession and bribery charges. ”I just need a fresh start.” Combs won’t legally change his name and insists he won’t be as much of a stickler as another perpetual alias maker: ”I am not doing it as serious as Prince — I’m not gonna be just crazy with it.”
Phew. Still, experts in the name game offer Combs a split decision. ”I don’t think P. Diddy really helps him,” says Lynn Haviland, president of name consulting firm Applebaum Associates, who christened Surge for Coca-Cola and Snackwells for Nabisco. ”A ditty is a short simple song of little or no importance. It trivializes what he does.” Rival name pro James Dettore of Brand Institute disagrees: ”It’s really quite clever,” he says of the swap. ”’Puff Daddy’: It’s old, it’s staid. This new ‘P. Diddy’ is younger, it’s fresh.” Freshly acquitted, that is.
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