Grimes Explains Why She And Elon Musk Named Their Child X Æ A-12

Yesterday, musician Grimes and her partner, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk welcomed their first child together into the world. When it was revealed the healthy baby boy’s name was X Æ A-12, the internet predictably flipped out – many asking how the name was even pronounced.

Well, we’re no closer to knowing how you pronounce the name, but at least now we have some explanation regarding its ‘Genesis’.

According to a tweet by Grimes – aka Claire Boucher – the X refers to the “unknown variable”, while Æ is “my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence)”. A-12 refers to the Lockeed A-12 OXCART, a reconnaissance aircraft built for the CIA, which Boucher and Musk apparently admire for having “no weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent.”

The A-12 is a precursor to the Lockeed SR-71 aircraft, Boucher and Musk’s favourite, apparently. Boucher erroneously tweeted that it was the SR-17, but Musk helpfully mansplained the correct model number to the recovering mother of his child. Very cool!

Still with us? The A in A-12 is short for ‘Archangel’, Boucher’s favourite song. She didn’t specify who the song was by, but one guess is it’s a reference to the song on British electronic producer Burial’s 2007 album Untrue.

Boucher concluded the tweet with sword and rat emojis and the caption ‘metal rat’, possibly a reference to the year in the Chinese Zodiac.

While this appears to be confirmation from both Boucher and Musk that X Æ A-12 is indeed their child’s name, some have pointed out that the name is not technically legal in the state of California, where the couple reside.

As TMZ report, children born in the state of California must be named using only the 26 letters of the alphabet, making ‘A-12’ an invalid character.