What We Know About Elon Musk's Children

This article references infant death and transphobia.

It's no secret that Elon Musk is a huge proponent of large families. The tech billionaire has gone on the record to plainly state his belief that the human population must continue to grow — and having more children is the only way to make this happen. "There are not enough people. I can't emphasize this enough, there are not enough people," Elon told an audience at a 2022 Wall Street Journal event, per CNBC. He later added, "If people don't have more children, civilization is going to crumble. Mark my words."

Elon emphasized this point once again at the 2023 Arteju political festival in Italy. Holding his son X Æ A-12 Musk in his arms, Elon urged politicians to incentivize higher fertility rates. "My advice to all government leaders and people is: make sure you have children to create a new generation," he said, according to EuroNews.

It's no stretch to say Elon practices what he preaches. As of the publication of this article, the tech mogul has 12 confirmed children born of three different women. Here's what we know about the Tesla cofounder's kids.

In 2002, Elon Musk and his now ex-wife, Justine Wilson, welcomed a son named Nevada Alexander Musk. When the boy was just 10 weeks old, he died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Reflecting on the tragedy in a piece published in Marie Claire, Wilson would later write, "The sale of PayPal vaulted Elon's net worth to well over $100 million. The same week, Nevada went down for a nap, placed on his back as always, and stopped breathing. He was 10 weeks old, the age when male infants are most susceptible to SIDS."

When Wilson realized Nevada wasn't breathing, she called 911. However, by the time the ambulance arrived it was too late. "He had been deprived of oxygen for so long that he was brain-dead. He spent three days on life support in a hospital in Orange County before we made the decision to take him off it. I held him in my arms when he died," she wrote.

Sadly, the tech mogul and his former partner mourned the loss of their son in very different ways. "Elon made it clear that he did not want to talk about Nevada's death. I didn't understand this, just as he didn't understand why I grieved openly," Wilson recalled in Marie Claire. She later took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to tell the world that holding her dying baby was "one of the most sacred and defining moments of my life."

Following the tragic death of their firstborn son, Nevada Alexander Musk, Elon Musk and Justine Wilson sought to expand their family once again. Writing in Marie Claire, Wilson recalled, "I buried my feelings instead, coping with Nevada's death by making my first visit to an IVF clinic less than two months [after the baby's death]. Elon and I planned to get pregnant again as swiftly as possible. Within the next five years, I gave birth to twins, then triplets."

The twins were born in 2004. One is named Griffin Musk, and the second twin officially changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson in 2022. In a petition submitted to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Vivian stated her reason for the name change: "Gender Identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form" (via People).

In 2006, the former couple welcomed triplets Kai Musk, Damian Musk, and Saxon Musk. In a 2017 Ted Talk, Wilson described all five of her kids as energetic and spirited. "Over the course of the last years, I hear myself saying pretty typical mom things. Like, 'Please take the light sabres off the dinner table.' ... And, 'The dog is not a rocket so — no — you do not have permission to launch him,'" she said with a laugh.

Elon Musk's eldest daughter, Vivian Wilson, is transgender. While her mother has remained a supportive figure in her life, her father has not. In a July 2024 phone interview with NBC News, Vivian said that Elon was not kind to her when she was a kid. "I was in fourth grade. We went on this road trip that I didn't know was actually just an advertisement for one of the cars — I don't remember which one — and he was constantly yelling at me viciously because my voice was too high. It was cruel," Vivian told the outlet. She also stated that she and Elon had not been in contact for four years.

While Elon did not respond to Vivian's comments in the aforementioned interview, he has publicly rejected his daughter's gender identity. Speaking with conservative commentator Jordan Peterson for a livestream hosted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Elon said that Vivian was "not a girl." He also claimed that she was "dead, killed by the woke mind virus." At one point, he even said, "I lost my son, essentially."

In her conversation with NBC News, Vivian said that she found these comments inappropriate yet also bizarre. According to her, Elon displayed almost no interest in her upbringing. "He doesn't know what I was like as a child because he quite simply wasn't there," she stated. "He was there, I want to say, maybe 10% of the time. That's generous."

On May 4, 2020, Elon Musk and Grimes welcomed a baby boy. The tech mogul and the musician, who first struck up a relationship in 2018, drummed up a truly one-of-a-kind name for their first child together: X Æ A-12 Musk. Unsurprisingly, this name raised a lot of eyebrows. There were questions about how to pronounce it, memes about the meaning of Elon and Grimes' baby's name, and more. As much fun as the internet had with the moniker, evidently, it didn't sit right with the government: Grimes and Elon were legally required to alter X's name. 

According to guidelines outlined by the state of California, Arabic numerals cannot be added to the end of a child's name. So, Elon and Grimes changed their baby's name from X Æ A-12 to X Æ A-Xii. As Grimes put it in the comments of a now-deleted Instagram post, "Roman numerals. Looks better tbh" (via Page Six).

In December 2021, their daughter Exa Dark Sideræl Musk was born. Once again, Elon and Grimes took issue with what they could and couldn't legally call their child. While they initially went with Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, they later decided on a different name. In March 2023, Grimes wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, "She's Y now. Or, 'Why???' Or just '?' (But the government won't recognize that). Curiosity, the eternal question ... and such." While these names certainly aren't orthodox, they are definitely memorable.

Elon Musk and Grimes did not announce Exa Dark Sideræl Musk's birth right away. Rather, Grimes accidentally revealed they had a second child in a March 2022 interview with Vanity Fair. Leading up to the chat, neither Grimes nor Elon had spoken publicly about Exa, also known as Y. However, when the little girl began to cry mid-interview, Grimes had to come clean about their family's secret.

"Whatever is going on with family stuff, I just feel like kids need to stay out of it," Grimes told journalist Devin Gordon. She then went on to lament the fact that her eldest son already had something of a public presence. "And X is just out there. I mean, I think E is really seeing him as a protégé and bringing him to everything and stuff ... X is out there. His situation is like that. But, yeah, I don't know," she said. 

As much as Grimes wants to shield their children from everything that comes with being the offspring of two public figures, they haven't been kept out of the public eye entirely. Over the years, Elon and Grimes have shared some photos of their kids on social media. 

In September 2023, word got out that Grimes and Elon Musk had a third child. As noted in Walter Isaacson's biography "Elon Musk, they became parents to a boy named Techno Mechanicus "Tau" Musk in June 2022. "He came out with eyes that could just see so deeply into your soul, with so much knowledge. He looks like a little Spock. He's definitely a Vulcan," Grimes told Isaacson (via Business Insider). Elon also shared the news on X, formerly known as Twitter.

While the "Oblivion" singer was willing to offer up some "Star Trek" themed details about her newest child, she certainly wasn't about to give away any additional information; Techno Mechanicus' privacy is important to Grimes. As she wrote on X, "I wish I could show u how cute little Techno is but my priority [right now] is keeping my babies out of the public eye. Plz respect that at this time." 

After dating on and off for about four years, Grimes confirmed she and Elon broke up for good in 2022. As of this writing, Elon and Grimes are in the middle of a custody battle. 

One month before Exa "Y" Musk came into the world, Elon Musk and a top Neuralink executive named Shivon Zilis welcomed twins via surrogate. The couple named the pair Strider Zilis Musk and Azure Zilis Musk. In 2024, Elon and Shivon welcomed a third baby, whose identity remains under wraps as of this writing.

Elon, however, balks at the idea that any of his children are a "secret." Speaking to Page Six, the tech Mogul said, "As for 'secretly fathered,' that is also false. All our friends and family know. Failure to issue a press release, which would be bizarre, does not mean 'secret.'" When asked how many children he plans to have, he told Page Six, "As many as I am able to spend time with and be a good father."

Shivon has said that having children has motivated her to fight for a better world for future generations. As she shared in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, "The number one thing about becoming a parent is that you realize giving up on the future is not an option. Building the best and brightest future you can imagine becomes morally obligatory to the point of feeling like it's embedded in your DNA."