Did Elon Musk and Grimes really call their baby X Æ A-12? What the bonkers symbol name really means – and how to pronounce it properly
When a follower asked Musk what they'd named their new son, Musk replied simply: “X Æ A-12 Musk.” He hasn't tweeted since that Monday night proclamation, or supplied any additional information on what the name means.
Musk is a known Twitter prankster, frequently posting jokes and memes for his 33.6 million followers. He's also dived into hot water in the past with his reckless tweeting about things like taking Tesla private or calling a British cave diver who helped rescue a trapped Thai soccer team a “pedo guy”. If the name he tweeted is a joke, it wouldn't be much of a surprise.
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Others are speculating that the string of characters Musk tweeted is a riddle or an equation that adds up to the actual name. One person guessed that the name is actually “X Ash Archangel”, which Musk liked on Twitter.
But if X Æ A-12 is the baby's first name, we have a few clues as to how it would be pronounced:
“X” could be pronounced like the letter X, or since it's the Roman numeral for 10, as “ten”.
“Æ” is known as an ash, which could be the intended pronunciation here. The actual sound the symbol makes is like an “a” in the word “cat” or “bad,” according to Dictionary.com.
“A-12" pretty much speaks for itself. Some have guessed it's a reference to a CIA aircraft, while others have guessed it's a maths equation: A-12=O.
Fortunately, new mum Grimes took to her Twitter account to shed more light on the mystery:
“X, the unknown variable.
“Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence).
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“A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favourite aircraft). No weapons, no defences, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent,” she wrote, adding “A=Archangel, my favourite song”, and concluding with a sword and rat emoji – a likely reference to the current Year of the Rat in the Chinese zodiac.
The unpronounceable name became the top trending item on Twitter, with users sharing hilarious reactions and memes inspired by the unusual name.
If that’s really the kid’s name, we have a feeling the memes are only the beginning of a lifetime of LOLs.
This article originally appeared in Business Insider.
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Assuming the outspoken tech entrepreneur really named his first child with art-pop star Grimes a bunch of bonkers mathematical symbols, then this is what they mean – and how to say them if you ever end up bumping into the unlucky kid in Starbucks