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Elon Musk shares photos of newborn son 'X Æ A-12.' Grimes explains the name's meaning

The name means... a lot of things.

Mark Serrels Editorial Director
Mark Serrels is an award-winning Senior Editorial Director focused on all things culture. He covers TV, movies, anime, video games and whatever weird things are happening on the internet. He especially likes to write about the hardships of being a parent in the age of memes, Minecraft and Fortnite. Definitely don't follow him on Twitter.
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Mark Serrels
2 min read
Elon Musk

Elon Musk outdoes himself.

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Elon Musk and Grimes have a new baby boy. And his name has the internet dazed and confused.

Musk announced the news Monday on Twitter. After Musk tweeted about something completely unrelated -- EPA testing on the  -- someone asked him for news on the baby. First he replied, "a few hours away," then later, "Mom & baby all good."

Later, Musk confirmed that the baby is a boy and shared a picture of him holding the little guy. "A pic of you holding the baby would break the internet ... please share one," a Twitter user posted. And Musk obliged. He also answered a question about the baby's name, saying it's X Æ A-12 Musk.  

Musk also posted a photo of the baby through a tattoo/eyelash filter. Apparently, it's never too early to use a filter.  

As you might expect, memes around the name choice flew thick and fast.

Recording artist Grimes (whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher) had initially hinted at the pregnancy on Instagram, with a cryptic image featuring a baby photoshopped onto her body and later confirmed her pregnancy in an interview with Rolling Stone. She also spoke on social media about issues with the pregnancy in her second trimester, saying she felt "woefully ill prepared" since pregnancy isn't as "visible or discussed as it should be."

Grimes explained the meaning in a tweet Tuesday:
X is the the "unknown variable." Æ is her "elven spelling of AI." A-12 is the "precursor to SR-17." Grimes is probably talking about the the SR-71, apparently the couple's favorite aircraft.  

Musk even called her out on the typo. 

A is for Archangel, Grimes favorite song. (To be fair, it's a great song.)

It's still not clear if this is a joke and no word yet on how the name is pronounced.

Representatives for Musk and didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Watch this: Tesla's Q1 earnings call was a mess