If you flicked through a bumper book of baby names, chances are you wouldn’t find many which include letters, numbers and punctuation.
Which is probably why Elon Musk and Grimes decided to combine all of these characters when coming up with a moniker for their firstborn – you know, to be original and all of that.
And after nine months of brainstorming a name for their new baby, the pair presented their son ‘X Æ A-12 Musk‘ to the world in May 2020.
Most people didn’t have a clue about how to pronounce it, let alone what it meant…so it’s probably a good job that it only stuck around for a few weeks.
Musk first announced the birth of his seventh child in a post shared on X on 5 May, 2020, before going on to reveal the tot’s unique name.
Grimes, 36, then provided a bit more context about why they had decided to name their baby X Æ A-12 in a post shared on the social media platform the following day.
Breaking it down for her baffled fans, the Canadian musician wrote: “X, the unknown variable. Æ, my elven spelling of AI (love &/or Artificial Intelligence).
“A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favourite aircraft). No weapons, no defences, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent + (A=Archangel, my favourite song) (metal rat).”
In hindsight, that probably left people even more confused than they were in the first place.
The tech tycoon and Grimes controversially named their firstborn X Æ A-12 (Stephen Lovekin/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)
Podcaster Joe Rogan then did us all a solid by asking Musk to explain the origin of X Æ A-12 further, as he admitted he thought it was some kind of ‘placeholder’.
During the episode which aired in May 2020, the Tesla boss, 53, said: “First of all, [Grimes] is the one that, actually, mostly, came up with the name. She’s great at names. I mean it’s just X, the letter X. Um, and then, the Æ is, like, pronounced ‘Ash’. And then, A-12, A-12 is my contribution.”
“Archangel 12, the precursor to the SR-71, is the coolest plane ever,” the billionaire added.
But despite spending a significant amount of time explaining their son’s name, the parents were forced to bin it off before the youngster had even turned a month old as unfortunately for them, the name X Æ A-12 did not comply with the law in California.
According to the state constitution, names must only ‘use the 26 alphabetical letters of the English language’…and you can see how Musk and Grimes fell foul of that.
But the new parents came up with a crafty way to get around the issue.
Still keen to keep their son’s quirky name, the pair got rid of the numbers for Roman numerals and instead changed the moniker to X Æ A-Xii – with his first name being X, middle name AE A-XII and surname Musk.
After announcing the news, Grimes said: “Roman numerals. Looks better tbh,” before clarifying that one dash is ‘allowed’.
Musk seen with his four-year-old son in November last year (Tucker Carlson)
At the time, family attorney David Glass explained the rules about names in California.
He told People: “Anything that has to be filed with the state, they have a handbook that includes this particular sentence that says the birth certificate must be filled out ‘using the 26 alphabetical letters of the English language’.
“I don’t think you can say [X Æ A-12] is illegal -it just won’t be accepted.
“So your child won’t have an official name and won’t have a birth certificate and you can’t get a social security number until you have a birth certificate and on down the line.
“They have an opportunity to appeal the rejection of the birth certificate application but it’s unlikely that it will be granted because, again…California has been struggling with using symbols.”
Musk and Grimes went to welcome another two children together – three-year-old Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, who’s name was also changed, and two-year-old Techno Mechanicus, who is known as Tau.
But they parted ways romantically in around 2021 and were locked in a custody battle over their three children, which has since reportedly been resolved, according to Business Insider.
Featured Image Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images
Olivia Burke
Brits left seriously confused as Elon Musk bizarrely suggests new name for the English Channel
Elon Musk wants to meddle with the name of the water which separates southern England and northern France
It seems renaming places really is all the range in 2025, as Elon Musk has now suggested a new moniker for the English Channel.
Days after President Donald Trump officially rebaptised the Gulf of Mexico with a new title, the tech guru shared his idea for doing the same on our side of the pond.
Musk wants to meddle with the large body of water which separates southern England from northern France by giving it a new name which is associated with one of America‘s Founding Fathers.
Even though he’s got much more pressing matters to be dealing with – such as the fallout from his controversial gesture Trump’s inauguration – the Tesla boss has apparently been preoccupied by thinking up a new name.
Never mind the fact that we’ve been calling it the English Channel since the early 18th century, as Musk reckons his title would roll off the tongue a lot easier.
For extremely patriotic Americans with a soft spot for political figures, that is, rather than the people in the countries which actually surround the Channel.
The water helped the UK become a naval superpower during the Napoleonic Wars and World War 2, so we’re all quite protective over it, as it goes.
This is why Brits have made it clear Musk’s bizarre suggestion to rename it after George Washington isn’t something we’re interested in.
The first president of the US has tons of monuments dedicated to him, while his face is immortalised on Mount Rushmore and on $1 notes – but Musk seems to think he deserves some respect in the UK, too.
Elon Musk proposed that the English Channel should be renamed after George Washington (Chesnot/Getty Images)
In a post shared on his platform X on Sunday (26 January), the billionaire shared an image of the English Channel on a map which instead featured the name ‘The George Washington Channel’.
Alongside the photo, he wrote: “New name for the water that separates England and France.”
Musk didn’t elaborate on his reasoning for this, although social media users weren’t exactly surprised that he wanted to lay claim to the arm of the Atlantic Ocean which is the busiest shipping area in the world due to the Dover Strait.
Still, people didn’t seem to understand why he had even sat and thought about the subject – especially when the US’ current focus is apparently buying Greenland, although the nation has insisted it isn’t for sale.
One user said: “What’s with this obsession now to change the names of geographical landmarks?”
New name for the water that separates England and France
Another wrote: “It’s ridiculous. Why would we spend millions of dollars to change signage and documents? The US doesn’t have the authority to rename international bodies of water.
“We can call them what we want in our official documents, but that’s not an official name change.”
While a third added: “The English Channel is not being renamed after George Washington. Grow up.”
It’s not the first time Musk has stuck his oar in UK affairs either, as he’s been slamming Prime Minister Keir Starmer online since he took office last year.
As well as this, he previously floated the idea of creating a ‘£20 billion tunnel’ underneath the Atlantic Ocean which connects London to New York.
Although he already adorns dollar bills and has countless monuments, Musk reckons the first President deserves a UK honour too (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
He claims that it could get people from A to B in less than an hour.
According to Dr Damian Tambini, an expert in media and communications regulation at the London School of Economics, Musk’s interference in the UK is down to his ‘blatant’ economic interests.
He said in a blog post: “If we examine the current state of regulation in the EU and the UK, the erratic political meddling of the US entrepreneur, and his ‘heroic’ stand on free speech, seem more rational.
“Musk is on an all-out campaign to undermine EU regulation: by undermining the political balances of the EU, and by questioning the very definition of free speech.
“The uncomfortable fact is that collaboration with fact checkers – which Musk rejected and has now enlisted Meta to campaign against – is what platforms must do under the new EU regime.”
Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Olivia Burke
Elon Musk’s ex-girlfriend Grimes speaks out after he was accused of giving ‘Nazi gesture’
Grimes has now shared her thoughts on Elon Musk’s controversial ‘salute’
Grimes has now responded to accusations that ex-boyfriend Elon Musk performed a ‘Nazi gesture’ on stage during Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.
The Tesla billionaire found himself at the front and centre of headlines in recent days, after footage of raising his right arm in a manner which resembles a Nazi ‘Seig Heil’ salute while delivering a speech on stage.
Take a look at the moment below:
Musk has since strongly denied the accusations and told critics they need ‘better dirty tricks’ in a series of posts on X, writing: “The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
The gesture is still receiving a strong reaction online, with Musk’s former partner Grimes now weighing in on the matter.
Responding to followers on X, the singer – real name Claire Boucher – said she was ‘happy to denounce Nazism and the far alt-right’ after being repeatedly asked about her thoughts on the situation.
“I’m happy to denounce Nazi-ism – and the far alt right. Would that help clear things up,” she wrote.
“I’ve just gotten out of breakfast and have to catch a flight, and am still debating how to approach things diplomatically because I feel in over my head. But if there’s concern about that, I am happy to set the record strait in a meaningful way.”
Grimes shared her response after being asked about Elon Musk’s actions (X/Grimezsz)
The interaction came after a fan revealed on the social media platform that they were considering having a tattoo removed after seeing that she hadn’t responded to the controversy.
“While I deeply respect your concern – it is unhealthy that people are this upset when I have not even been online yet today and am only just learning about this controversy now,” she wrote in response.
“It’s absurd that someone can be this cancelled for something their ex did before they even heard it happened. I am not him. I will not make a statement every time he does something. I can only send love back into a world that is hurting.”
The 36-year-old singer went on to add that she understood than fan concerns came from a ‘good place’ but she had chosen to focus on her ‘children’s wellbeing’.
Grimes shares three children with ex-partner Elon Musk (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Coachella)
“I promise you it doesn’t feel good to be hated all the time for things I don’t even know about, cannot predict and cannot control,” she added. “But I also chose this path, I accept it. I make the best of it, and I simply wish happiness and health to all.”
Grimes and Musk had been in a relationship from 2018 to around 2021 and share three children X AE A-XII, 4, Exa Dark Sideræl, 3, and Tau Techno Mechanicus, 2 together.
The former couple are currently locked in a custody battle over their three children, of which the younger two were born via surrogate.
Featured Image Credit: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Brenna Cooper
Space X rocket ‘destroyed’ less than ten minutes after its launch in Elon Musk’s mission to reach Mars
It’s more bad news for the would-be Mars colonists
There’s a well known saying which goes: ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results’, which seems to be the case when it comes to Elon Musk’s obsession with Mars.
The tech-billionaire has made no secret of his plans to colonise the nearby red planet, with the Tesla owner once famously telling people that he’d like to die on Mars.
However, this bold dream doesn’t appear any closer to becoming a reality.
Space X’s seventh Starship test flight (X)
Yesterday (16 January), SpaceX launched their seventh un-crewed test rocket into space. The rocket was launched from Texas, around 4.40pm local time, and appeared to be an initial success.
The booster was able to execute a planned return to the ground after propelling the Starship test flight into the fair, which went on to fly for around eight and a half minutes.
However, it would appear ground crew lost contact with the rocket after this point, with a host on the SpaceX livestream telling viewers (via SkyNews): “At this point in time, we can confirm we did lose the ship.
“It looks like we lost contact a little under eight and a half minutes into the flight.”
SpaceX later confirmed the loss of the ship via a statement on X, which read: “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause.
Elon Musk has made no secret about his plans for Mars (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability.
“It was great to see a booster come down, but we are obviously bummed out about ship,” SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said of the situation, adding that it would take a while for teams to analyse the data and understand what went wrong.
This isn’t the first time SpaceX has experienced such setbacks on their Mars colonisation quest, with the company’s sixth test flight also exploding just 10 minutes into it’s flight.
Images from the test flight have since been shared on social media (X)
Looks like it’s back to the drawing board for now.
However, it doesn’t look like Musk will be giving up on his dream of creating a Mars outpost anytime soon, with the 53-year-old making the bold claim that humans could be living on the planet in as little as four years.
Making the declaration on X back in September, Musk added that he envisioned a self-sustaining city on Mars to possibility within the next ’20 years’ as well.
“Being multiplanetary will vastly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness, as we will no longer have all our eggs, literally and metabolically, on one planet.”
Lets just hope they can get over the 10-minute hitch.
Featured Image Credit: (X)
Topics: Elon Musk, Science, Space, SpaceX, Twitter, World News
Brenna Cooper
Elon Musk makes bizarre gesture to camera as Donald Trump makes Mars promise during inaugural address
Mention of space in the inaugural address? Time to pan the camera over to Elon Musk
Elon Musk could be spotted making a very bizarre gesture after Donald Trump confirmed his pledge to send US astronauts to Mars during his inaugural address.
We are once again in the era of a Donald Trump presidency, which means that things are once again about to get very interesting.
The past few months have seen Trump forge a close friendship with tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, with the 53-year-old even earning the role of government efficiency tsar.
We’re still none the wiser on what the Department of Government Efficiency (which of course has the acronym DOGE) will actually do, but Musk’s influence can already be seen as Trump promised to send astronauts to Mars during his inaugural address.
Elon Musk at the inauguration (CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” Trump told attendees at the US Capitol.
Before we even begin to speculate over the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ about sending astronauts to space, let’s first dissect Musk’s reaction to the announcement.
The cameraman did an astounding job of panning over to Musk once Mars was mentioned, given that it’s his lifelong obsession, and managed to catch his very goofy real-time response.
Watch the moment below:
In the clip, Musk can be seen grinning from ear-to-ear and mouthing something to the camera, before giving a final thumbs up. Just in case his first two reactions didn’t signify his pleasure with the announcement.
Of course the reaction of a man who (despite being very famous) still has no idea how to act on camera has garnered plenty of reactions online.
“Elon immediately looking for the memes,” one person responded to the clip, while a second added: “Elon Musk’s reaction when Trump says we will plant an American flag on Mars is pure gold.”
It would appear that Barron Trump doesn’t share Elon’s fascination with Mars (X)
Meanwhile others were quick to point out that while Musk looked excited at the prospect of humans reaching Mars, Trump’s 18-year-old son Barron was much less enthusiastic.
“Barron’s mind is still in the trenches,” one user joked, as a second commented: “Barron tired of hearing about Mars.”
“Barron Trump is not going to Mars, that’s for sure,” a third added.
Although Barron appears to have very little interest in visiting the Red Planet, making it to Mars is somewhat of a lifelong goal for Musk, who once told SXSW crowds in 2013: “I’d like to die on Mars, just not on impact.”
Everything Trump has pledged to do as 47th US President
Delaying the TikTok ban
After TikTok went dark on January 19 in the US, it was bought back after mere hours with a message reading: “Welcome back! Thank you for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the US!”
Trump will reportedly sign an executive order to delay the ban saying he wants to ‘make a deal to protect our national security’.
Immigration
In a statement during a rally at Madison Square Garden during his presidential race, he said: “On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out.
“I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.”
Planning over 100 executive orders
It’s been reported by AP that Trump plans on preparing over 100 executive orders on his first day in the White House. Trump’s allies have reportedly spent time preparing documents that Trump can sign quickly, on issues such as deportation, school gender policies and vaccine mandates, without input from congress.
“There will be a substantial number,” said Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D.
Making hidden government files public
Including the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr., Trump promised at his recent rally in Washington D.C that, in a bid to increase government transparency, he will be making these disclosures in ‘the coming days’.
“And in the coming days, we are going to make public remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
‘Make Greenland Great Again Act’
In a bid that has not gone down well with Greenlanders, taking to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said: “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.
“Greenland is an incredible place. The people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation. We will protect it, cherish it, from a very vicious outside World. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
January 6 pardons
Trump’s loss in the 2020 election led to the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in turn resulting in the arrests of a number of Trump supporters.
In an interview with TIME, Trump said that looking into the cases of the rioters’ will take place in ‘the first nine minutes’ of his time in office.
In a post shared on his social media channel, Trump said: “I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”
Getting rid of birthright citizenship
Exactly as it sounds, Trump once declared he wanted to get rid of birthright citizenship, which immediately gives citizenship to anyone born in US. Noting that this may not be possible as it’s written into the constitution, he said he wants to achieve this by executive order – bypassing congress again – ‘if we can’.
Cut federal funding for schools educating on ‘inappropriate’ topics
Speaking early last year, Trump addressed a crowd in Iowa and made plans to ‘save [the] country from destruction’.
“On day one, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity,” he said, per NPR.
Trump also said he would target schools pushing ‘any other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children’.
Making the US the ‘crypto capital’
Back in 2021, Trump called crypto a ‘scam against the dollar.’ But four years on, he’s pulled a u-turn as he vowed to make the US the ‘crypto capital of the planet’.
On social media, Trump claimed crypto would be ‘mined, minted and made in the US’.
Both he and wife Melania released their own memecoins ahead of the inauguration, while experts previously predicted Bitcoin could reach up to $250,000 this year.
Be a ‘dictator’
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity last year, he referred to himself as a ‘dictator’ when asked if he was promising to ‘never abuse power as retribution against anybody’.
In response, Trump said: “Except for Day 1. I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”
End Green Deals
Trump has spoken previously about his plan to ‘terminate the Green New Deal’, which he dubbed the ‘Green New Scam’.
The Green New Deal was pitched by Democrats Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey, but it was never signed into law.
Addressing the policies in a speech in September, Trump said: “To further defeat inflation, my plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam. Greatest scam in history, probably.
“We [will] rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act. I’m going to write it out in an executive order. It’s going to end on Day 1.”
Arrange green cards for college graduates
Despite making his stance on migration clear, Trump has advocated for non-US citizens to receive green cards to stay in the country if they graduate from college.
During an episode of the ‘All In’ podcast recorded this year, Trump said: “Anybody graduates from a college, you go in there for two years or four years, if you graduate, or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country […]
“Somebody graduates at the top of the class, they can’t even make a deal with the company because they don’t think they’re going to be able to stay in the country. That is going to end on Day 1.”
Scrap ‘electric vehicle mandates’
Trump plans to scrap Biden administration’s so-called electric vehicle mandate, referring to new pollution standards that incentivize auto manufacturers to increase production of electric and lower-emission vehicles.
Despite vowing to get rid of the policy on his first day, Trump told podcaster Joe Rogan the move could take ‘maybe two days, because it’s a little bit busy’.
Fire the man who indicted him
Trump faced two federal cases in relation to the 2020 election result from special counsel Jack Smith, and the future POTUS has no plans to work with him again.
Speaking on October 24, Trump told the Hugh Hewitt show he would fire Smith ‘within two seconds’: “He’ll be one of the first things addressed.”
