The name that Elon Musk and Grimes chose for their newborn, X Æ A-12, overwhelmed the internet with chatter about it on Tuesday. Now, it appears that the name might not be legal under California state law.
X Æ A-12 is believed to have been born in Los Angeles, California. According to TMZ, a supervisor at the Department of Public Health Vital Records Office in Los Angeles has stated on Wednesday that it’s against the law to include numbers or symbols in a name. In fact, the law indicates that names can only include the 26 letters of the English alphabet. So, the multiple numbers and symbols look like they’re a no-go.
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Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, attempted to explain the cryptic name of her child on Twitter but succeeded mostly in further confusing her fans. Starting off with “X,” Grimes referred to it as “the unknown variable.” She went on to say that “Æ” as “my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence).” Next, the A-12 is for the CIA’s Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance plane. “A-12 = precursor to [SR-71] (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent.”
Next, the “A” is also meant to represent the word “Archangel.” It’s also a reference to her favorite song, although she did not clarify the name of the artist. Finally, the number 12 represents the Chinese zodiac sign of the rat, which Grimes notes as “metal rat.” 2020 also happens to be the Year of the Metal Rat, per the Chinese zodiac.
X Æ A-12 is the first child for Grimes, while Musk has five sons from a previous marriage. The pop star first announced the couple were expecting back in January by sharing a topless photo with her baby bump proudly displayed. “I thought about censoring them for a hot minute haha (this may get taken down anyway) but the photo is so much less feral without the nipples,” she wrote in the caption. “Plus being knocked up is a very feral [and] war-like state of being. Might as well be what it is. Plus most of my friends told me not to post them so then I was afflicted [with] reverse psychology. Interrogated my shame and decided it was [some] weird internalized self hated to feel uncomfortable about my body.”
