Abel Tesfaye. Does that name sound familiar to you?

But anyone who listens to contemporary pop music would know who “The Weeknd” is.

Canadian pop star The Weeknd has reverted to his birth name Abel Tesfaye on his social media accounts, BBC reports.

In April, the singer, known for his famous pop songs such as “Blinding Lights”, asked his Twitter followers whether he should make the change.

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"ABEL formally known as The Weeknd?" — he asked his fans in a tweet that received over one hundred thousand likes.

The award-winning artist revealed his plan to "kill The Weeknd" in an interview with W Magazine, prompting the name change, BBC reported.

“I'm going through a cathartic path right now,” he said. "It's getting to a place and time where I'm getting ready to close The Weeknd chapter."

According to the Daily Mail, the artist previously stated that he received the nickname after dropping out of school and "leaving one weekend and never returning home" with his mattress.

Abel Tesfaye told W Magazine that he had said everything he could as The Weeknd and added that his next album would probably be his "last hurrah" under that name.

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Tesfaye rose to prominence after uploading his first songs to YouTube in 2010, showcasing a dark, explicit R&B style that explored drug use, casual sex, and alienation. He was born in Toronto to Ethiopian parents.

Later, famous Canadian rapper Drake then uploaded these early demos to his personal blog, enabling Tesfaye to construct a nine-track mixtape, “House of Balloons”, which he made available for free download, according to BBC.

Throughout his musical career, he has won four Grammy awards, achieved platinum status for more than 45 recordings and albums, and broken numerous music records.

In March 2023, the Guinness World Records crowned him the most renowned artist in the world based on his monthly Spotify listeners.

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As of March 2023, the 33-year-old had 111.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, making him the first artist to reach 100 million monthly listeners on the streaming service.