Prince and the 'Symbol' Name Change

You might think Prince's 1993 name change was pure rock star eccentricity, but it was actually a calculated legal and artistic rebellion against Warner Bros. He replaced his name with a hand-drawn symbol combining male and female astrological signs, making it literally impossible to type on standard keyboards. Warner Bros. even distributed floppy disks just so journalists could print it. The full story behind his fight for creative freedom gets even more fascinating from here.

Key Takeaways

• Prince hand-drew his unpronounceable symbol on his 35th birthday, combining male and female astrological signs into a deliberate gender fusion.
• The name change was a legal strategy to escape his contract with Warner Bros., who owned the trademark to the name "Prince."
• Warner Bros. distributed floppy disks to media outlets so journalists could print the unpronounceable symbol in their publications.
• In 1995, Prince appeared publicly with "SLAVE" written on his cheek to protest Warner Bros.' control over his music and identity.
• After his publishing contract expired in 2000, Prince regained full legal ownership of his name and officially returned to using it.

How Prince Designed an Unpronounceable Symbol

When Prince wanted to sever ties with Warner Bros. in 1993, he didn't just change his name—he replaced it with something no one could say. On June 7, his 35th birthday, he hand-drew the now-iconic symbol, combining the male and female astrological signs into a deliberate gender fusion. He then added a hand drawn flourish of ornate extensions, giving the design its distinctive, customized appearance.

Prince officially described the symbol as unpronounceable with no identified meaning, intentionally avoiding any readable text or standard letters. That deliberate ambiguity wasn't accidental—it made the symbol impossible to reduce to something simple or corporate-friendly. Warner Bros. had to distribute floppy disks containing the image just so media outlets could print it, which tells you everything about how unconventional this creative statement really was. In a 1999 interview with Larry King, Prince elaborated that the name change was also a way to divorce from his past and the hangups that came with it.

Why Prince Ditched His Name in 1993

Prince's name change didn't come out of nowhere—it was a direct response to a contract dispute with Warner Bros. that had been building for years. His artistic rebellion doubled as a legal strategy to reclaim ownership and freedom over his music.

Here's why he walked away from his own name:

• Warner Bros. signed him in 1977, granting full creative control
• A 1992 extension worth $100 million tied payouts to album sales
• The label blocked him from releasing unreleased vault material
• He wrote "slave" on his face to publicly expose label control
• The name change was his "first step toward emancipation from chains"

You can see how the symbol wasn't just a rebrand—it was his loudest statement against corporate control.

How the Press Turned Prince's Symbol Into a Punchline

Once Prince made his stand against Warner Bros., the press had a field day. You couldn't blame them — the symbol was unpronounceable, untypable on standard keyboards, and required special software just to display correctly. Warner Bros. even distributed floppy disks to media outlets so journalists could depict the glyph accurately. Despite that effort, media mockery ran wild.

Broadcast satire hit hard when MTV replaced Prince's name with a metallic clanging noise during on-air mentions, turning his bold statement into an audio punchline. Newspapers sidestepped the chaos entirely by dubbing him "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince," a nickname both Warner and Prince eventually accepted. What he intended as a serious protest against his label, the public and press largely dismissed as an obnoxious, head-scratching publicity stunt. Adding to the spectacle, Prince appeared on stage in 1995 with the word "slave" written on his cheek, doubling down on his protest against Warner's control.

Why Prince Wrote 'Slave' on His Face

Defiance took a literal form when Prince appeared in public in 1993 with the word "SLAVE" written across his cheek. This artistic protest wasn't shock value — it was a direct response to Warner Bros.' control over his name, identity, and recording rights. You're looking at someone who used his own face as a billboard for contract autonomy.

Here's what drove that bold statement:

• Warner Bros. owned his name as a legal trademark
• The label dictated when his albums could release
• Prince couldn't control his master recordings
• His prior symbol adoption had already challenged their authority
• He viewed the contract as ownership of his very identity

That single word sparked serious conversations about exploitative industry deals that still resonate today. The struggle over who controls personal data and identity isn't limited to artists — Uber's internal "God View" tool allowed executives, support staff, and even provisional job candidates to access any passenger's real-time and historic location data without consent or audit trails. Much like Prince's fight over identity and ownership, early YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim's casual 18-second clip at the San Diego Zoo helped democratize content creation, shifting power away from gatekeepers and into the hands of ordinary creators.

How Prince Got His Name Back From Warner Bros

Writing "SLAVE" on his face made headlines, but Prince's real fight was about getting his name back — and the strategy he used to do it was as unconventional as the man himself.

His name negotiation wasn't a dramatic legal battle — it was simply a waiting game. Once his publishing rights contract with Warner Bros. expired, he regained full legal control of the name "Prince." The label had trademarked it and used it as their primary marketing tool, but that leverage disappeared when the publishing agreement ended.

He officially returned to using his birth name in 2000, reclaiming both his identity and his independence. He'd also secured ownership of new material and full release control — everything he'd fought for since 1993. To protect the Love Symbol during this period, he obtained four federal trademark registrations covering categories ranging from entertainment services to clothing to sound recordings.