- 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.
Farewell, X Æ A-12—we truly hardly knew ye. A mere three weeks after announcing the name that broke the internet (the internet has sustained some grievous wounds in 2020), Grimes revealed she and Elon Musk had changed their newborn baby's name, in accordance with California birth certificate rules which prohibit the inclusion of numbers. Admittedly, 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."
So: The latter portion of baby Grimes-Musk's name is probably pronounced exactly the same as A-12. What remains to be seen? Whether the parents have decided on a pronunciation for the first part of the name. Appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Musk explained that X was pronounced "like the letter," while Æ was pronounced like "ash"—making the baby's name something like "Exash." But Grimes, in a subsequent Instagram comment, appeared to disagree, writing, "It's just X, like the letter X. Then A.I. Like how you said the letter A then I." Eh, I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually!
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