Published 19:13 IST, May 8th 2020
Elon Musk and Grimes reveal how to pronounce son's name X Æ A-12, but they differ again
Quenching the curiosity about the pronunciation of baby's name, Elon Musk and Grimes have finally revealed 'how to pronounce X Æ A-12.
Ever since Tesla and SpaceX chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk revealed the name of his newborn son with girlfriend Grimes, social media has been abuzz with queries about the meaning and pronunciation of the unusual name. On May 5, Musk welcomed a baby boy and shared adorable pictures on request of a Twitter user. Quenching the curiosity about the pronunciation of baby's name, Musk and Grimes have finally revealed how to pronounce X Æ A-12.
How to pronounce X Æ A-12?
As people have been flooding social media with queries about the pronunciation of the quirky name, Grimes finally quenched the curiosity and replied to a query by an Instagram user.
"It's just X, like the letter X. Then A.I. Like how you said the letter A then I," wrote Grimes on in response to a query on Instagram.
Soon after, Musk too explained the pronunciation which, however, differed from the one given by his girlfriend Grimes. During an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Musk spilt the beans on the name. He started by saying that the name has mostly been suggested by Grimes.
"First of all, my partner is the one that, actually, mostly, came up with the name," Musk said. "Yeah, she's great at names."
Laying out the exact pronunciation of the name of his newborn son, Musk said: "So, it's just X, the letter X, and then the Æ is pronounced Ash." He said that he suggested adding A-12 as an homage to the Archangel 12, what he said is the "precursor to SR-71, the coolest plane ever." The verdict: X Ash Archangel Twelve.
X Æ A-12 decoded
Earlier, Grimes took to Twitter to decode the name which has piqued the curiosity of people across the world. She explained that X is the "the unknown variable", Æ is her "elven spelling of Ai", A-12 is the "precursor to SR-17" apparently the couple's favourite aircraft. A is for Archangel, Grimes' favourite song.
However, Musk was quick to correct her pointing out that the spy plane is actually called an SR-71. "I'm recovering from surgery and barely alive so may my typos b forgiven but, damnit. That was meant to be profound," Grimes replied to her partner.
Name not legal?
While the mystery behind meaning and pronunciation of the name is now somewhat clear, several reports claim that the path for registration of the name may not be clear yet. As per some reports, the name, which appears to be a series of numbers and signs, could actually be illegal in California. While neither Musk not Grimes have revealed that place of child's birth, speculations are rife that the baby was born in California.
Names aren't allowed to have special characters according to Los Angeles laws, several international media reports suggest. Roman numerals, accents, umlauts or other symbols or emojis are also reportedly not permitted while an apostrophe is acceptable in some cases. Names, as per the law, can only have twenty-six characters of the English language and special characters and numericals aren't permitted. A report stated that the couple "won't be able to register" their son's name in California, where the child is believed to have born.
Updated 19:13 IST, May 8th 2020