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Californian Law Prevents Elon Musk And Grimes From Calling Newborn Son X Æ A-12

Californian Law Prevents Elon Musk And Grimes From Calling Newborn Son X Æ A-12

Looks like they might have to go with their second option...

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

The world was introduced to Elon Musk and Grimes' newborn son this week and the memes swiftly rolled in - largely in response to the couple saying they were naming the youngster with the unusual moniker of 'X Æ A-12'.

However, it looks like they might have fallen at the first hurdle.

A family attorney told People that Californian law will prevent them from going forward with the name because it features characters from outside the alphabet.

David Glass said: "In California, you can only use the 26 characters of the English language in your baby name.

"Thus, you can't have numbers, Roman numerals, accents, umlauts or other symbols or emojis. Although an apostrophe, for a name like 'O'Connor,' is acceptable."

"They have an opportunity to appeal the rejection of the birth certificate application but it's unlikely that it will be granted because, again, California... has been struggling with using symbols."

Technically, the couple could turn X Æ A-12 into a name that's pronounced the same (like, say, X Eye A Twelve) and chuck that on the birth certificate... But you'd imagine that's now what they had in mind.

Musician Grimes - whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher - has confirmed their choice of name via social media, and offered an explanation of what exactly it means.

Grimes confirming her pregnancy.
Instagram/grimes

The 32-year-old posted: "X [represents] the unknown variable.

"Æ is the the Elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence).

"A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favourite aircraft). No weapons, no defences, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent. (A=Archangel, my favorite song)."

Glad that's all cleared up then.

Grimes has previously said she plans to raise their kid as gender-neutral and allow them to pick whatever suits their identity.

The singer took to social media earlier this year to do a question and answer session with her fans when one asked whether she's having a 'girl or boy?'

In response, the 'Oblivion' hitmaker used a gender-neutral pronoun to say: "They may decide their fate and identity."

In another question, someone asked whether she's nervous about motherhood to which she quite reasonably responded: "Yeah."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: elon musk, Celebrity