Grimes and Elon Musk Just Changed X Æ A-12's Name

new york, ny may 07 elon musk and grimes attend the heavenly bodies fashion the catholic imagination costume institute gala at the metropolitan museum of art on may 7, 2018 in new york city photo by neilson barnardgetty images

(Image credit: Neilson Barnard)

published 26 May 2020

Grimes and Elon Musk have been the talk of the internet ever since they announced their new baby's name: X Æ A-12.
But the name fell afoul of California birth certificate rules—which bar the inclusion of numbers.
On Instagram, Grimes revealed the revised name: X Æ A-Xii.

Three weeks after welcoming baby X Æ A-12, Grimes revealed she and Elon Musk had changed their newborn's name, in accordance with California birth certificate rules which prohibit the inclusion of numbers. The new name's not all that different, and the pronunciation—which Grimes and Musk apparently haven't agreed on—is likely to be exactly the same.

In the comments of Grimes' latest Instagram post, one of her followers asked, "Did you change the baby name because of Californian laws? What is the baby's new name?" Grimes' response: "X Æ A-Xii." In a subsequent comment, she added, "Roman numerals. Looks better tbh."

A post shared by ☘︎𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰࿎ (@grimes)
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Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.