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Margot Harris
- Earlier this month, Grimes and Elon Musk welcomed their first child together, a son they named X Æ A-12.
- The unusual name spurred an extensive online dialogue among fans who were confused by the choice and wondered if the couple was trolling their fanbase.
- The bizarre name also inspired an onslaught of memes and Twitter jokes.
- In the weeks since the child's birth, both Musk and Grimes have responded to fan comments on social media, noting that the baby's name is now slightly changed to X Æ A-Xii.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
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On May 4, pop singer Claire Boucher, known to her fans as Grimes, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk welcomed their first child into the world together. The couple, when prodded on social media for information about their newborn, said that they named their son X Æ A-12 — an announcement that spurred confusion and a deluge of memes.
In the weeks since their baby's arrival, the couple has kept fans updated with crucial information via social media, replying to comments on their Instagram posts and tweets.
Here's a timeline of the celebrity infant's first few months in the spotlight.
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Speculation that the Canadian singer was pregnant began in January when she posted a nude photo — with a fetus photoshopped on her belly — to Instagram.
Censored for insta haha - almost got away w it 😮
A post shared by ꧁ ༒ Gℜiꪔ⃕es ༒꧂ (@grimes) on Jan 8, 2020 at 3:42pm PST
While the photo's caption did not reference a pregnancy, Grimes' response to one comment about the choice of a nude photo had fans convinced that she was, in fact, expecting.
"I thought about censoring [the nipples] for a hot minute haha (this may get taken down anyway) but the photo is so much less feral without the nipples," she wrote. "Plus being knocked up is a very feral and war-like state of being."
Days later, the singer went on to post a second photo in which she cradled a pregnant belly, further fueling speculation.
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Weeks later, Grimes seemed to confirm her pregnancy on Twitter, referencing her "unborn child."
In late January, Grimes took to Twitter to dispute claims that social media accounts for her digital avatar WarNymph, a project the singer had been developing over the last year, were created for her baby.
"It is not a social media account for my unborn child. Plz don't try to create controversy about my baby, whose privacy I plan on protecting," she wrote.
—꧁ ༒ Gℜiꪔ⃕es ༒꧂ 🍓🐉🎀 小仙女 (@Grimezsz) January 23, 2020
Speculation surrounding the purpose of the WarNymph accounts began when the singer posted a photo of the digital avatar, which bears a striking resemblance to a cherub, on her personal Twitter and Instagram accounts.
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In February, the singer revealed the baby's due date while promoting her upcoming album.
During a Twitch live stream to promote her new album, "Miss Anthropocene," Grimes confirmed her due date to curious fans.
"The baby will be born on May 4th," she said. "Or May 5th."
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In March, Grimes confirmed to Rolling Stone that her boyfriend, Elon Musk was the father of her unborn child.
In a March 5 interview, Grimes discussed her pregnancy at length, telling Rolling Stone that she hoped her child with the Tesla CEO would be "nocturnal" to accommodate her own sleep schedule.
"Currently it is!" she told the outlet. "It doesn't move during the day, only at night."
She went on to joke that adapting to a new sleep schedule could have dire consequences.
"We'll see," she said. "I might be about to ruin my life and career!"
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On May 4, Musk announced on Twitter that the couple had welcomed a baby boy (with an unusual name).
In a series of tweets, the Tesla CEO confirmed that Grimes and the newborn were "all good."
When a commenter inquired about the baby's name, Musk replied with a series of letters, symbols, and numbers: "X Æ A-12."
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2020
Another commenter requested that Musk "break the internet" with a photo of him holding his newborn son — and Musk complied.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2020
Several days later, Maye Musk (the Tesla CEO's mother) also posted a photo of the newborn to Twitter, wishing Grimes a happy first Mother's Day.
—Maye Musk (@mayemusk) May 10, 2020
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The announcement of the unusual baby name sparked confusion — and an onslaught of memes.
Musk's tweets announcing the arrival of X Æ A-12 were met with skepticism from followers who assumed that the name announcement was one of the Tesla CEO's typical pranks that he pulls on his 34.6 million followers (his joke about taking Tesla private even resulted in legal action against the company). The couple continued to troll the public after the birth of their son, with Muskuploading a photo of his newborn with a face tattoo filter, writing, "Never too early for some ink."
In addition to skepticism, the name announcement sparked endless memes and Twitter jokes. The name was in the top 10 Google searches, according to Google Trends, for multiple days in the week after the child's birth.
Barstool Sports podcast host Ellie Schnitt quipped that the name sounded like a "randomly generated wifi password" and other Twitter users joked about the bizarre family dynamic that would ensue.
—ellie schnitt (@holy_schnitt) May 5, 2020
—damo (@mfdamo) May 5, 2020
—Tin #⃝ (@flawlessmorpher) May 5, 2020
—yves month (@edenmp4) May 5, 2020
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Grimes later clarified the name's meaning — although she and Musk didn't appear to agree on its pronunciation.
After intense speculation about the name, Grimes took to Twitter to breakdown what each character in X Æ A-12 means. The "X," she explained, stands for the "unknown variable," while "Æ" stands for her "elven spelling of Ai," and A-12 stands for a CIA aircraft known internally as Archangel.
A-12, she added was a "precursor to SR-17"— a detail that fans are speculating stems from the new parent's love of X-Men comics. The SR-71 Blackbird, Business Insider's Avery Hartmans reported, is nearly identical to the X-Jet, the plane used by the X-Men.
—꧁ ༒ Gℜiꪔ⃕es ༒꧂ 🍓🐉🎀 小仙女 (@Grimezsz) May 6, 2020
Musk corrected one in detail his partner's tweet, writing that Archangel was a precursor to the SR-71 not SR-17. Grimes shot back that she was "recovering from surgery and barely alive," so her typos could be forgiven.
—꧁ ༒ Gℜiꪔ⃕es ༒꧂ 🍓🐉🎀 小仙女 (@Grimezsz) May 6, 2020
Grimes further clarified the name's pronunciation in an Instagram comment.
When a follower asked about the correct pronunciation on the singer's recent post featuring her Italian Vogue cover shoot, Grimes responded, "It's just X, like the letter X. Then A.I. Like how you said the letter A then I."
Musk, however, suggested a different pronunciation when he appeared on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast in mid-May.
"It's just X, the letter X. And then the Æ is, like, pronounced 'ash,'" Musk explained.
While the idea came from Grimes, he told Rogan, he contributed the "A-12" portion of the name.
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Fans aren't the only ones weighing in on the famous couple's name choice.
Gwenyth Paltrow, who has received media attention of her own for choosing a controversial baby name, added her thoughts to the online discourse.
The actress shared her reaction to the name in a comment on InStyle Magazine's Instagram post teasing the pronunciation, writing, "#chrismartin I think we got beat for most controversial baby name." The comment was subsequently reposted to the commentsbycelebs Instagram account.
Apple walked so X Æ A-12 could run. #CommentsByCelebs
A post shared by Comments By Celebs (@commentsbycelebs) on May 8, 2020 at 10:40am PDT
Paltrow and Martin welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Apple Blythe Alison Martin, in 2004.
"Apple walked so X Æ A-12 could run," the photo's caption reads.
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The unique name, in addition to stirring up discussion online, appeared to be in conflict with California state law.
To further complicate the controversy surrounding the baby's name, California state law suggests that the couple could not have listed the baby's name as "X Æ A-12" on the birth certificate.
Business Insider's Avery Hartmans reported thatCalifornia's birth registration handbook mandates that baby names in the state include only the "26 alphabetical characters of the English language," although some exceptions are made for punctuation in names like "O'Connell."
Names including numeric characters or diacritical marks, a term referring to marks added to a letter to distinguish its pronunciation, are also classified as "unacceptable entries."
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In late May, Grimes said that the spelling of the baby's name had been changed to "X Æ A-Xii."
A post shared by ꧁ ༒ Gℜiꪔ⃕es ༒꧂ (@grimes)
The new parents seemingly changed the spelling of the name to comply with state laws, according to Grimes' recent Instagram activity.
After a commenter on Instagram asked if the couple changed the baby's name because of California laws — and inquired about the infant's new name — Grimes responded, "Roman numerals. Looks better tbh."
In a follow-up comment, the singer clarified that state law allowed "one dash" in the registered name (as, technically, the dash serves as a hyphen).
In follow-up comments, fans asked what nicknames Grimes and Musk plan on using in the future, to which Grimes said,"he has many names."
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Grimes says that the baby's godmother is K-pop idol Gowon.
The new mom shared yet another update on the baby over Memorial Day Weekend: Gowon, a member of South Korean girl group Loona, is her son's godmother.
In the comments section of Grimes' most recent Instagram post, one fan asked if Gowon was the baby's godmother, to which the singer simply responded, "yes."
While fans can't be sure if the response is another attempt at trolling her followers, the choice wouldn't be completely random. Grimes and Gowon previously collaborated together in 2018 on the Loona/yyxy track "love4eva."
Read more:
Elon Musk tweeted out a string of characters claiming it was his new baby boy's name, and the memes about him and Grimes' parenting have already begun
How to pronounce 'X Æ A-Xii,' the slightly tweaked name Elon Musk and Grimes gave their new baby
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and musician Grimes have had their first child together. Here's where their relationship began and everything that's happened since.
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