Elon Musk jokes about his child’s name X Æ A-Xii in SNL opening monologue

Musk and his partner, singer-songwriter Grimes, welcomed a son in May 2020

Elon Musk on SNL (Twitter/nbcsnl)

Elon Musk poked fun at the pronunciation of his child’s unusual name on Saturday Night Live.

The Tesla CEO made his hosting debut on the sketch show on Saturday (8 May).

As part of his opening monologue, he made a reference to X Æ A-Xii, a son he welcomed with his partner, singer-songwriter Grimes, in May last year.

“SNL’s a great way to learn something new about the host,” he said. “For example, this is my son’s name.”

As the name flashed up onto the screen, Musk added: “It’s pronounced ‘cat running across a keyboard.’”

Grimes and Musk originally named their child X Æ A-12, and later changed the spelling to X Æ A-Xii. While the pair didn’t explicitly explain the reason behind the change, there was some speculation that the previous version would fall outside of naming laws in California.

Both Grimes and Musk have given their respective versions of how to pronounce their child’s name. Musk has said it’s the letter “X”, then “Ash”, while Grimes has said it’s the letter “X”, followed by the letters “A” and “I” taken separately.