Grimes shares nickname for son with Elon Musk X Æ A-Xii

Singer was forced to change child's name to comply with California law

Olivia Petter
Saturday 30 May 2020 05:49 EDT
Comments
(Getty Images for Roc Nation)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Grimes has revealed what she calls her son, X Æ A-Xii.

The singer gave birth to her first child with Tesla billionaire Elon Musk earlier this month.

When the couple unveiled the name, many people scrambled to work out what it meant and how it was pronounced.

According to Grimes, the name is simply pronounced “X A I”, but speaking to Bloomberg, she clarified that she calls him “Little X”.

But Grimes’s pronunciation of her son’s full name differs from Musk’s.

Speaking to Joe Rogan on his eponymous podcast, Musk said that AE was pronounced like “Ash”.

“I mean it’s just X, the letter X,” Musk said, adding: “Um, and then, the Æ is, like, pronounced ‘Ash’. And then, A-12, A-12 is my contribution.”

During the interview, the SpaceX founder acknowledged that Grimes was the one who had chosen the name, telling Rogan: “First of all, my partner is the one that, actually, mostly, came up with the name.”

He said A-12 referred to Archangel 12, “the precursor to the SR-71, coolest plane ever”.

Grimes explained the meaning in full on Twitter: “X, the unknown variable, Æ, my elven spelling of AI (love &/or artificial intelligence), A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favourite aircraft). No weapons, no defences, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent.”

However, the couple were forced to change “A-12” to A-Xii” in order to comply with California Law, which does not allow for numbers to be included in a person’s name.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in