What’s the real pronunciation of Elon Musk and Grimes’ baby’s name? How do you say X Æ A-12?
48-year-old billionaire Elon Musk just became a father for the seventh time with 32-year-old singer Grimes and the choice of name for their son X Æ A-12 has everyone, including themselves, a little confused. To further complicate matters, the name might not even be legal in California where they reside.
On Twitter Grimes broke down the name X Æ A-12 like this:
“•X, the unknown variable (Crossed swords emoji)
•Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence)
•A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent (white heart emoji)
+
(A=Archangel, my favorite song)
(Crossed swords emoji and rat emoji – metal rat).”
Elon had a different interpretation of their child’s name. He told Joe Rogan: “I mean it’s just X, the letter X. And then, the Æ is, like, pronounced ‘Ash’… and then, A-12, A-12 is my contribution.” Elon also corrected Grimes’ tweet explaining the aircraft part of the baby name. Instead of SR-71, she wrote SR-17. He also tweeted a photo of an A-12 plane, pointing out that it’s also called an “Archangel-12.”
So, not only is “Archangel” by Burial Grimes’ favorite song, it’s also a reference to the plane. It should also probably be noted that one of Elon’s first business ventures was X.com, an online financial services and email company he started before Paypal.
Archangel-12 pic.twitter.com/s9g69SU1Ju
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2020
Æ is commonly known as the “ash” symbol, which is what Elon was saying. Perhaps the parents didn’t properly discuss how they wanted to pronounce Æ, because Grimes had a much more unique perspective. When Grimes referenced the “elven spelling of AI” she was not referring to any real or fictionalized language other than perhaps one she has made up.
“I am recovering from surgery,” Grimes replied to her boyfriend. :and barely alive so may my typos b forgiven but, damnit. That was meant to be profound.”
Elon’s mother Maye Musk shared an easy nickname for the new baby: “X.”
The parents probably won’t be able to put their child’s birth certificate because in the state of California you can’t use numbers or symbols in a name. Apostrophes, like in the name O’Sullivan, are the only symbols outside of the 26 letters of the English alphabet that are legally allowed.
Elon posted with the new baby on Instagram while wearing an “Occupy Mars” shirt. The SpaceX owner has dreams of building a city of 1 million people on Mars by 2050. His plan is to have 100 starships leave Earth per year and to provide loans for people who can’t afford the price. How to pay back the loans? The mogul promises that there will be a booming economy with lots of jobs on Mars.
With such lofty plans the baby’s unconventional name sounds less weird. Still, human names are structured the way they are because they are easy for us to say and remember. The structure of “X Æ A-12” is new to us right now, but maybe the people on Mars will assimilate to this new naming structure.
Grimes also shared a touching video of Elon with baby “X” on her InstaStories.
X Æ A-12 and Elon via Grime's Instagram story. 💙🚀 pic.twitter.com/dXiAegRsH3
— X Æ A-12 Updates (@XAEA12updates) May 11, 2020
A few hours ago Elon Musk shared a photo of a pregnant Kylie Jenner meme, poking fun at how he got Grimes pregnant. X Æ A-12 is Grimes’ first child, but he is Elon’s 7th. He also has six children with his first ex-wife Justine Musk. Their first son Nevada died from sudden infant death syndrome. They then had twin boys Griffin, Xavier (16) via in-vitro fertilization, and then triplet boys Damian, Saxon, and Kai (14.) Justine and Elon share custody of their sons, but are now estranged. She told Marie Claire that they only communciate through his assistant.
That’s pretty much what happened pic.twitter.com/5Enzgt20q7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2020
Elon may be a new dad, but he’s not afraid of going to jail in the new future. He has plans for some civil disobedience. Yesterday he boldly proclaimed that he would be restarting his Tesla plant despite that being against the law in his county.
Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2020
Amelia Cunningham is a Starcasm writer and editor @AmeliaStarcasm
