"ayu" and "Hamasaki Ayumi"
 

what is really the difference with this two?. Sorry I'm just tired to search about this.

I think it's written in the extra booklet in LOVEppears but I can't understand it.

What should the difference be? Hamasaki Ayumi is her real name, Ayu is her nickname

just what PinkShinigami said

"Ayu" is her nickname! :P

hamasaki ayumi is her full name
while ayu is her nickname
her fans call her ayu too

how can a person thats fan for 7 years not know her nickname o.0

my thoughts exactly -_-'''

somemore I've been supporting ayumi for 3 years+ & I know that Ayu's her nickname

*shrugs*

^ exactly there is no difficultly to know that Ayu is the nickname, Ayumi even signs Ayu as her autograph signature

I guess it wasn't about ayu being her nickname, was it? There is actually more to it.

I think it's something like that that "ayu" is the "real", everyday person, while hamasaki ayumi is the "product", the person the fans see.
But I don't know if the "LOVEppears" extra booklet deals about this or something else.

not sure if this helps or not
so,to me there's no difference between hamasaki ayumi and ayu
just ppl and herself used to call her as ayu

Well, other than what other people have pointed out, her artistic name has these differences:

ayumi hamasaki - the avex CD releases
ayu - the german trance CD releases

Yes, that's what Ayu said before.:)
"Hamasaki Ayumi" is a selling product, "Ayu" is her true self.

it's always so cute when she refers to herself as ayu for concerts~

^It's like she's showing us her true-self. 0.0

fans call her ayu... Ayumi Hamasaki is like the official name of hers

You have a point there you know.

I don't see why there would be a difference between Ayu and Ayumi Hamasaki/Hamasaki Ayumi :shrug. If you are talking about the name that is and not about Hamasaki Ayumi being a product etc. (you know what I mean.)

There's Ayumi Hamasaki/Ayu the person and Ayumi Hamasaki/Ayu the singer. Early in her career she made it a point to distinct the two. She wanted to separate them because fans were only seeing her as Ayumi Hamasaki the popstar and not as Ayumi Hamasaki the person/the "real and true" Ayu. She still continues to do so because she believes they are not the same but with the idea that each has a direct bearing/effect on the other. I think it's understandable. If I were her I wouldn't want to mix my personal/private life with my career as a singer. Though she wants to hold this distinction, I read that even when she's not singing or working and out for personal business, if she encounters a fan, she is no longer the "real" Ayu but Ayumi Hamasaki the popstar; she believes this is her responsibility to her fans. Though they are "different people", they are really still two faces on the same quarter. Those "faces" flip depending on the situation. That's the kind of thing she accepted when she became and singer and she knew full well what she was getting herself into.

If you want a more simple response: Ayu is just a nickname. She's had it even before she debuted. It refers to none other than Ayumi Hamasaki.

I know that ayu is the nickname of ayumi hamasaki. of course!

What I mean is behind these two names.. just like what Jimex289 describes...