X Æ A-12: Grimes and Elon Musk explain how to pronounce their baby's name — but each says it differently

Musician explains name to fan on social media, but entrepreneur partner appears to disagree

Grimes has revealed how to pronounce the name of her and Elon Musk’s son, X Æ A-12 Musk, after days of speculation.

But the musician and her entrepreneur partner have given different accounts of how to say their the child’s name.

The pronunciation and meaning behind the unique moniker has been a topic of interest since Musk announced that Grimes, whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher, had given birth to their son on 4 May and the couple had named it a series of letters.

Since the baby’s birth, both Musk and Grimes have explained what the characters mean, with the “Genesis” singer revealing the symbolism on Twitter and the Tesla founder opening up about the name on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

Grimes tweeted on Tuesday: “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.”

On Thursday, the new mother explained how to pronounce X Æ A-12 in response to a curious fan on Instagram, who asked: “How do you pronounce the baby’s name?”

Grimes explains how to pronounce newborn son’s name (Instagram)

According to Grimes, the name is simply pronounced “X A I.”

“It’s just X, like the letter X. Then AI. Like how you said the letter A then I,” she responded.

Grimes’s pronunciation varied from Musk’s, however, as the 48-year-old partly explained how to pronounce the name during his interview with Rogan. He said Æ was pronounced like “Ash”.

“I mean it’s just X, the letter X,” Musk said, adding: “Um, and then, the Æ is, like, pronounced ‘Ash’. And then, A-12, A-12 is my contribution.”

During the interview, the SpaceX founder acknowledged that Grimes was the one who had chosen the name, telling Rogan: “First of all, my partner is the one that, actually, mostly, came up with the name.”

He said A-12 referred to Archangel 12, “the precursor to the SR-71, coolest plane ever”.

Æ is originally a Latin symbol that now forms part of a the alphabet in some languages, including Danish, Norweigian and Icelandic. Pronunciation varies; some say it as “ash” and other as the letters A and E.