x æ a-12

Grimes and Elon Musk Named Their Baby After Their ‘Favorite Aircraft’

They’ll probably just call ‘em X. Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/MG18/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Turns out, Elon Musk was completely serious about his new baby’s name, X Æ A-12. On Twitter on Tuesday night, Grimes, real name Claire Boucher, explained why they chose a name that sounds like it could be a Star Wars droid. And it actually holds some sentimental value. Well, not X. X just means X, “the unknown variable,” Grimes wrote. Æ is her “elven spelling” of “ai,” which resembles the Chinese word for love and, of course, AI. Finally, A-12 is the name of their “favorite aircraft,” she said the way some people say favorite flower. “No weapons, no defenses, just speed,” she added. “Great in battle, but non-violent.” Oh, and the A in “A-12” stands for “Archangel,” Grimes’s “favorite song,” whatever that is. Just for one second, imagine her explaining all this to X on Platform 9 3/4 before he heads off on his first year at magic school: “X Æ A-12, you were named for two technological feats. One of them was a spy plane and it went really, really fast.”

Fans, haters, and innocent bystanders alike were confused by the license-plate-looking name, but Grimes is confident in their choice. “I think it sounds like the name of the main character in the story,” she replied to a tweet that said the name looked like an EP title. “I hope he vibes with that.” Now we know what the name means, but neither parent offered a pronunciation guide. In fact, they added one more layer of confusion: Both parents are using he/him pronouns and referring to X as a boy, despite Grimes’s previous claim that they didn’t want to “gender them.” Either way, a baby name hasn’t caused this much excitement since Kim and Kanye went with “North West.” And look how iconic that turned out.

Grimes and Elon Musk Named Their Baby After an Airplane