Elon Musk's Son Has An Unusual Name — Here's How to Pronounce It

Given how often he is appearing around his dad these days, it's fair to say that Elon Musk's son X Æ A-12, the oldest of three children he had with singer Grimes, might be a fixture of the federal government for years to come. Musk's son even appeared in the Oval Office in mid-February as his dad took questions from reporters.

In that Oval Office meeting, President Trump referred to X Æ A-12 simply as X, but many want to know how you pronounce the full name. Here's what we know about its pronunciation.

Musk has long been obsessed with the letter X, as evidenced by his rebranding of Twitter, his naming of SpaceX, and the fact that he named one of his son's the letter. The same year X Æ A-12 was born (2020), Musk appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience and was asked about how he would pronounce the name.

"How do you say the name?" Rogan asked. "Is it a placeholder?"

"X Ash A Twelve," Musk explained in reply. So basically it's pronounced the way it's written, with Æ being the only questionable character. That character exists in some languages, including Danish, and is often pronounced as "ash," although some people just say "A E."

Usually, though, it seems like he simply goes by "X," which is certainly easier to say. If you ever want to say the full name, though, now you can.

Although most people wouldn't put it past Musk, a famously eccentric rich guy, to give his kid an odd name, Musk told Rogan that Grimes actually came up with most of the name.

"First of all, my partner's the one that mostly came up with the name," Musk said. "I mean it's just X, the letter X, and the 'Æ' is pronounced, 'Ash,' and then, A-12 is my contribution."

Musk said that A-12 refers to "Archangel 12, the precursor to the SR-71, coolest plane ever."

Shortly after X's birth, Grimes took to X (formerly Twitter) to share even more details about the decisions that had gone into his name.

She said that X was the "unknown variable," and that Æ was "my elven spelling of Ai," which she explained as "love and/or artificial intelligence."

It seems like Musk and Grimes both thought pretty carefully about the name, even if it raised some eyebrows when it first came out.

For the first few years of his life, X was largely out of the public eye, but now, he's palling around with his father all over Washington, D.C. as Musk runs the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Recently, X appeared in the Oval Office, where some think he told Trump that he wasn't the real president. Whether he did or not, though, it's clear that X's father has lots of power inside the federal government, and thus far, he has been pretty unafraid to use it.