Elon Musk and his partner Grimes, for some reason or reasons, decided to give their newborn boy, who was born on 4 May 2020, a super weird name, X Æ A-12.
We know the more charitable ones among our readers will call the name “interesting” or “unusual” but let’s call a spade, a spade. That name was pretty weird, no matter what Elon Musk and Grimes might say it means. But hey, he’s their son and theirs to play with, within the law anyway.
So, they gave the child this name, X Æ A-12, and the internet was left scratching its name on what could be the meaning of it. Grimes happily obliged and broke down the meaning via a tweet.
“X, the unknown variable,” she explains. “Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence)
“A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent.
“(A=Archangel, my favorite song),” she adds.
•X, the unknown variable ??
•Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence)
•A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent ?
+
(A=Archangel, my favorite song)
(??? metal rat)— ? ? G?i??es ?? ??? ??? (@Grimezsz) May 6, 2020
So, that was one part of the puzzle solved. The other was, how does one pronounce such a name?
Come Elon to the rescue, who happily obliged during an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast on Thursday, 7 may 2020 to reveal how to pronounce the name.
According to the proud father of six, the name X Æ A-12 is pronounced as “X Ash A Twelve.”
[bctt tweet=”The name X Æ A-12 is pronounced as X Ash A Twelve. ” username=”elonmusk”]
Talk about an anticlimax. So apparently, X, A and 12 are pronounced as you will regularly pronounce them, while Æ is pronounced as “Ash”. One wonders why the couple just doesn’t call their baby plain Ash. Probably not intellectual enough. That child will probably be a walking target for bullying with a name like his, but we digress.
So according to Elon, it was his partner, Canadian singer Grimes, who came up mostly with the name. Elon’s contribution to it was A-12, which he says was in deference to “Archangel 12, the precursor to the SR-71, coolest plane ever. It’s true.”
What a way to pay homage to your passion!
Talking about passion, Elon is also the founder and the majority owner of SpaceX, a company that is involved in space transportation. So, you can see where the connection to Archangels and aircraft came from? Who knows, maybe X Æ A-12 inherits some of those genes. Will totally be prophetical.
Meanwhile, news reports indicate that Elon Musk and Grimes may not actually be able to legally name their child X Æ A-12 because of a Californian Law that prohibits parents from giving children’s name that contains alphabets and unusual characters.
Matt Conens, an official for Office of Public Affairs of the California Department of Public Health was reported as stating, via an email to the USA Today, that “a name like ‘X Æ A-12’ would not be allowed.
“Vital records must be completed with the 26 alphabetical characters of the English language and appropriate punctuation such as hyphens, apostrophes, periods and commas.”
[bctt tweet=”Do parents have the right to call their kids whatever they fancy? And does the government has the right to restrict what parents might call their child?” username=”Sidomex”]
So, it looks like X Æ A-12 may yet be spared the possibility of endless bullying by inconsiderate bullies yet.
Elon and Grimes may well settle to use the name as a moniker for their child and not a name for legal purposes. Unless, of course, they decide to challenge the law in court. It will be interesting if they do that. And it will be interesting to know the outcome too.
Do parents have the right to call their kids whatever they fancy? And does the government has the right to restrict what parents might call their child? Let’s hear your perspective in the comment box.
Welcome to the world X Ash A Twelve. May the force be with you!
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