The Real Meanings Behind Elon Musk's Bizarre Names For His Kids

Over the years, Elon Musk has welcomed 13 children, most of whom don't exactly have regular old names. The tech billionaire fathered six children with his first wife, Justine Wilson. In 2002, the happy couple welcomed their first child, Nevada Alexander Musk, who sadly passed away due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) when he was about 10 weeks old. Although Elon hasn't opened up about the inspiration behind his firstborn's name, it's safe to assume that he was named after the U.S. state. 

Meanwhile, his Grecian middle name could mean "man's defender" or "warrior," according to The Bump. Before Elon and Wilson parted ways in 2008, they welcomed twins Vivian and Griffin Musk and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian Musk. According to court documents obtained by People, Vivian, who was assigned male at birth, sought to change her name shortly after her 18th birthday in April 2022. "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," she wrote as the reasons for the name change in the form. 

While Elon and Wilson have remained similarly tight-lipped about the inspirations behind the rest of their kids' names, they may have kept the warrior theme going with Saxon. As Bounty notes, the German-origin name could either refer to a "dagger" or "a short sword." There's also a chance that it represents the Germanic Saxon tribe, which gained notoriety for being a military powerhouse during the Middle Ages (something the SpaceX founder would likely appreciate). Elon's next set of children came from Canadian singer Grimes, and their names were off-the-charts unusual.

One of the many strange things about Elon Musk and Grimes that everyone ignores is their outlandish baby name choices. In May 2020, the PayPal co-founder took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to confirm that they had chosen to call their first son together X Æ A-12 Musk. Shortly afterward, the "Genesis" hitmaker graced us with an explanation for the inspiration behind the name that somehow made things even more confusing. In her own tweet, Grimes wrote that X represented "the unknown variable" while A-12 was her "elven spelling of Ai." Finally, the A-12 honored an aircraft of the same name, which preceded their all-time favorite model, the SR-71. 

During an appearance on the "Joe Rogan Experience," Elon clarified that "Æ" was pronounced like "Ash" while the rest of the letters and numbers used their regular pronunciations (via YouTube). In Grimes' March 2022 Vanity Fair interview, she revealed that they secretly welcomed their daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl, in December 2021. The "Oblivion" singer explained that they named Exa after the computing term exaFLOPS. Meanwhile, Dark represented "the unknown," with Grimes elaborating, "People fear it but truly it's the absence of photons. Dark matter is the beautiful mystery of our universe." 

Sideræl, which she clarified was pronounced as "sigh-deer-ee-el," represented "the true time of the universe, star time, deep space time, not our relative earth time." However, the little girl was known simply as Y around their household. Of course, Elon and Grimes kept their unique name theme going for their third child, son Techno Mechanicus. Although we never got an explanation for the name choice, the couple apparently call him Tau. 

Elon Musk fathered twins with one of his company executives for a strange reason. A 2022 Insider report detailed how the billionaire had quietly welcomed twins with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis in November 2021. Shortly after the news broke, Elon took to X to share his thought process behind the major life decision, reasoning, "Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far." According to Reuters, the pair had a platonic relationship and conceived their children through IVF. In fact, it wasn't until Walter Isaacson's authorized biography about the tech billionaire, simply titled "Elon Musk," hit shelves that we learned the non-couple had named their kids Azure and Strider. 

While Azure is most likely a reference to the color of the same name, Strider could mean someone who "walks with confidence," as noted by Ancestry.com. In the following years, the Tesla CEO and Zilis welcomed an additional two children with Greek-origin names, Arcadia and Seldon Lycurgus. In typical fashion, neither parent commented on their reasons for choosing such unique names. Generally speaking, though, Arcadia is meant to represent a serene region, per Ancestry.com. 

Meanwhile, Zilis and the controversial tech billionaire could have picked Seldon Lycurgus as a tribute to his new lofty position in the U.S. government, heading up the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Middle name Lycurgus is likely a reference to a Greek lawmaker who was integral in creating the Spartan lifestyle. As for Seldon, that could refer to Hari Seldon, the fictional mathematician at the center of Isaac Asimov's sci-fi book series, "Foundation." Although Elon reportedly welcomed his 13th child with Ashley St. Clair, the boy's name hasn't been made public yet.