About

X Æ A-12, often abbreviated to X or Little X is Elon Musk's son born on May 4th, 2020. The younger Musk has frequently been featured online because of his father's posting, starting with the announcement of his brith and name which spawned numerous memes and jokes speculating that the child is actually a robot, as well as online discussions about whether Musk was joking and how the name might be pronounced. As X matured into toddlerhood and his father purchased Twitter, notably renaming it X in mid-2023, he featured prominently in many public outings, particularly some that garnered virality in late 2023.

Origin

On May 4th, 2020, Musk's girlfriend Grimes gave birth to a boy. After posting about the child on Twitter,^[1] user @priscillabanana asked for the baby's name to which Musk replied: "X Æ A-12 Musk," which received over 39,500 likes and 4,00 retweets within 24 hours (shown below).

Many online speculated about the proper pronunciation of the baby's name. The most common version seen is "X Ash Archangel." This translation is based on "Æ" being an a-e ligature named "Ash," found in Latin originally. "Archangel" stems from the Lockheed A-12 aircraft, built for use by the CIA. Some have also speculated that the "X" might stand for "Ten" like the Roman numeral.

Spread

That day, Twitter^[2] user @zuunk tweeted a video of a young boy dubbed with electronic sound effects and the message "X Æ A-12 when he talks" (shown below).

Meanwhile, Twitter^[3] user @bobvulfov posted a video of a Boston Dynamics robot with the caption "X Æ A-12 Musk running to catch the school bus" (shown below).

Twitter^[4] user @helen also commented on the name in a tweet that day (seen below), suggesting that the child recharges with a USB cable.

On Reddit, several Redditors also discussed the child's strange name through memes and various threads. One such example was posted by Redditor^[5] sAdB0i69 to the r/elonmusk sub. The meme (shown below) received 280 upvotes and 20 comments.

The Instagram^[6] account memequeen shared another meme referencing the baby later that day, along with the caption, "Who came up with the name???" The post (seen below) was viewed over 50,000 times and liked nearly 5,000 times.

Grimes' Response

On the evening the name was announced, Grimes tweeted^[7] an explanation of the child's name, indicating that "X" represented "the unknown variable,"Æ" the "elven spelling of AI" and "A-12" the archangel aircraft (shown below).

Name Update

On May 24th, Grimes responded to a question about the name on Instagram.^[8] They wrote, "Did you change the name because of Californian laws? What is the baby's new name?" Grimes wrote, "X Æ-Xii," indicating the numeral 12 had been changed to the Roman numeral "Xii."

Toddler Outings

Following his purchase of Twitter and his choice to rename it as X in July 2023, Elon Musk brought his son X to a variety of outings and meetings with world leaders that year, many of which garnered attention in late 2023.

For example, on September 18th, 2023, Musk held a public meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with his son X on his lap. Erdogan presented the toddler with a soccer ball and asked Musk why he had the child with him and where his wife was. Musk explained that he and Grimes were separated. A post by @ragipsoylu describing the interaction received over 19,000 likes on X in three months (seen below).^[9]

On December 16th, 2023, Musk posted a picture of himself and "little X" looking at a statue during a trip to Italy, which received over 328,000 likes in a day (seen below, left).^[10] Others online, like Twitter user @esjesjesj, criticized Musk's choice to parent his son out in the open, calling him a "bad dad" (seen below, right) and receiving over 32,000 likes in a day.^[11]

During the same December 2023 trip, Musk also took his son onstage with him to a large political rally for the party of Giorgia Meloni, Italy's right-wing Prime Minister (seen below).

Related Memes

Elon Musk Alt Burner Account

Elon Musk Alt Burner Account refers to a purported alternate Twitter account of Elon Musk under the handle @ermnmusk and the username Elon Test. In late April 2023, it was revealed to be the second account of the Twitter owner due to an April 24th screenshot that showed the account's picture in Elon Musk's profile. The account appeared to be posting under the imagined persona of Musk's son, X. Posters picked up on the account as it went viral and joked about it in the days after as word spread of his burner profile.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References