Elon Musk’s mum shares her easier-to-pronounce nickname for gender-neutral baby X Æ A-12
Grimes and Elon Musk welcomed baby X Æ A-12 on May 5. (Maye Musk/ Twitter)
UPDATE (May 26): Grimes and Elon Musk have changed the spelling of their baby’s name, reportedly to comply with Californian regulations.
Elon Musk and Grimes shocked the world when they revealed the name of their new baby – X Æ A-12, who will be allowed to determine their own gender – but the tech giant’s mum has revealed a much easier to pronounce nickname.
Grimes confirmed in February that they had decided on a baby name, but said at the time that she wouldn’t be announcing it “because everyone I’ve told it hates it, and everyone’s gonna make fun of it”.
“But it is, in fact, a genius name and people just don’t appreciate it yet because it’s too avant-garde,” she said.
Musk announced to the world that the couple’s baby had arrived on Tuesday, May 5, and revealed that their name was X Æ A-12 Musk. The baby is Grimes’ first, while tech billionaire has six children with his first wife.
Grimes later explained the meaning of the name on Twitter: “X, the unknown variable, Æ, my elven spelling of AI (love and/or artificial intelligence).”
A-12 is a reference to the couple’s favourite aircraft, the CIA’s Lockheed A-12, codenamed Archangel. “No weapons, no defences, just speed,” Grimes wrote. “Great in battle, but non-violent.”
However, the pronunciation of X Æ A-12 has left the world confused, and it seems Musk’s mum was also having a little trouble.
Luckily, she has revealed much simpler nickname for her new grandchild.
Maye Musk, a 72-year-old dietitian, model and author, wrote on Twitter on May 10: “X, welcome to this world. You are so adorable. Congrats Elon Musk and Grimes who will celebrate her first Mother’s Day tomorrow. #ProudGrandma.”
X, welcome to this world 🌎 You are so adorable🥰🥰
Congrats @elonmusk and @Grimezsz who will celebrate her first #MothersDay tomorrow. #ProudGrandma #GrandmaOf12
Love this photo by @christianamusk 😍#AWomanMakesAPlan#ItsGreatToBe72 pic.twitter.com/5lLHzgW5kM
— Maye Musk (@mayemusk) May 10, 2020
Some of her followers preferred the baby’s full name, with one writing: “It’s X Æ A-12, what is it with grandmothers wanting to go straight for the cute abbreviations? If you’re not careful it might stick!”
But another Twitter user replied: “I think X is gonna stick, I mean it’s way easier to say”.
The nickname appears to have already stuck, with others adding “X is absolutely adorable”, and “such a great photo, cute little X”.
Grimes and Elon Musk will allow baby X Æ A-12 to determine their own gender.
Grimes has previously said that her child will be allowed to “decide their fate and destiny” in terms of their gender.
She explained: “I don’t want to say the gender of the baby… because I feel like their privacy should be protected.
“I don’t think they can consent to being famous or being in public. And I don’t want to gender them in case that’s not how they feel in their life.
“I don’t know, I just feel like it doesn’t need to be known.”
