The saga of one of history’s strangest baby names has just gotten even more complicated. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Canadian singer Grimes welcomed their first child earlier this month, and surprised the world by revealing that the child’s name was X Æ A-12 Musk. The unique name soon became a trend around the world, as folks took to social media to speculate what it meant and why the parents would give that name to their kid. Well, just a few weeks after the little boy’s birth, his name has already been changed.
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It doesn’t get any easier to pronounce or understand, but the baby’s name has been changed from X Æ A-12 to X Æ A-Xii. The “12” at the end of the name was swapped to Roman numerals, that’s the only change. Grimes revealed the change in the name in a response to a comment on an Instagram post over the weekend, when a fan asked if they had changed the baby’s name to accommodate California laws.
While Grimes did reveal the new name, she didn’t say whether or not the change was due to the laws or just a personal preference. She did note that she liked this version better, saying, “Roman numerals. Looks better tbh.” When asked by another fan if they call the baby “X”, “Ash”, or something else, Grimes responded, “he has many names.”
The meaning of the Musk baby’s name is just as unique as the name itself. Grimes previously revealed that the “X” stands for “the unknown variable.” The “Æ” part of the name is actually the Elven spelling of AI, which is both Artificial Intelligence and the literal word for “love” in numerous languages. Finally, the A-12 is actually in reference to an aircraft, the precursor to the SR-17, which the couple claims is their “favorite aircraft.”
That said, the name of the baby sounds different depending on which parent you ask. Grimes said the Æ sounds like “AI” but Musk told Joe Rogan that it was pronounced like “Ash.”
