Elon Musk carries his son X Æ A-Xii on his shoulders in the Oval Office of the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC ; Grimes attends the Premiere of “Captain Marvel” on March 4, 2019 in Hollywood, California.Photo:JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty ; Jesse Grant/Getty
JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty ; Jesse Grant/Getty
Elon MuskandGrimeswelcomed three children together throughout the course of their on-and-off relationship.
The Tesla founder and singer were first linked in 2018, and welcomed their first child, son X Æ A-Xii, two years later in May 2020. The former couple went on to quietly have two more children, including daughter Exa Dark Sideræl via surrogate in December 2021, and sonTechno Mechanicusin June 2022.
Musk is also thefather of nine other children, six of whom he welcomed with hisex-wife Justine Wilsonand three with an executive at one of his companies,Shivon Zilis.
After X was born, Musk opened up toThe New York Timesin July 2020 about Grimes taking the lead parenting role while his son was an infant. “Well, babies are just eating and pooping machines, you know? Right now there’s not much I can do,” he said. “Grimes has a much bigger role than me right now … When the kid gets older, there will be more of a role for me.”
Now, three kids and multiple breakups later, Grimes is focused on amicably co-parenting with Musk, and ensuring she maintains a positive relationship with her children.
“Ireally care about having a very good relationshipwith my kids. I think I understand how to be a good parent to them. Both enforcing discipline and being their friend,” she toldWiredin August 2023. “Who knows, maybe they’ll resent me and reject family culture, but I feel like they will not.”
Grimes and Elon Musk with their son X in 2021.Elon Musk/X
Elon Musk/X
Over a year later, in November 2024, Grimes shared in a post onXthat she had held off on releasing new music because she had been involved in a custody battle with Musk, and it weighed on her creatively.
“Spent a year locked in battle in a state with terrible mothers rights having my instagram posts and modeling used as reasons I shouldn’t have my kids and fighting and detaching from the love if my life as he comes unrecognizable to me, with a fraction of his resources (or iq/strategy experience),” she wrote in her post.
“All the while Ididn’t see one of my babies for 5 months,” she continued. “And this is only what can be said publicly, since most of my experience these last years should remain behind closed doors.”
From the meaning behind their unique names to how the singer and entrepreneur co-parent together, here’s everything to know about Elon Musk and Grimes’ children.
X Æ A-Xii, 4
Elon Musk and son X at TIME Person of the Year in 2021.Theo Wargo/Getty
Theo Wargo/Getty
“For a girl, it’s sacrificing your body and your freedom. It’s a pretty crazy sacrifice and only half of the population has to do it. It was really profound to me when I decided I was going to do it, to actually go through the act of unprotected sex,” she toldRolling Stone.
“I do actually just really love my boyfriend,” Grimes shared of Musk, explaining how she decided to welcome the idea of getting pregnant, “So I was like, ‘You know, sure.’ ”
On May 4, 2020, Grimes gave birth to the couple’s son, whom they named X Æ A-12. The musician explained thatthe name had a lot of personal significance, with X representing “the unknown variable” and Æ being her “elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence).”
She added that part of the name is a nod to the CIA’s Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance plane, “the precursor to SR-17” and the couple’s “favorite aircraft,” known to have “no weapons, no defenses, just speed.” Meanwhile, the “A” in the name also represents “Archangel,” which Grimes said is her “favorite song,” and the number “12” stands for the Chinese zodiac sign of the rat.
Just a few weeks later, Musk and Grimes announced thatthey had changed the infant’s nameto X Æ A-Xii, explaining that they had to remove “the numbers to confirm to California law.” Grimes added that after the change she thought the Roman numerals also looked “better.”
While the pair call the little boy “X” for short, they have shared various pronunciations of his full name. Both Grimes and Musk agree that “X” is spoken “like the letter,” but the musician says “Æ” is pronounced “like how you said the letter A then I.” Meanwhile, Musk shared onThe Joe Rogan Experiencepodcast that “the ‘Æ’ is pronounced like ‘ash.’ ”
As their son has gotten older, Grimes and Musk have kept his life mostly private but have shared small snippets about him. Ahead of his first birthday, Grimes posted a sweet video ofX playing with her synthand later revealed that he was very into “radical art.”
“X, he says Claire but he doesn’t say, like, mama … Like, maybe he can sense my distaste for the word mother. Which I don’t even know why I have a distaste for it ’cause I respect it. I just, I can’t identify with it weirdly,” Grimes said inan interview with Vogue.
Elon Musk and X Musk.Elon Musk Twitter
Elon Musk Twitter
In 2022, X made headlines as hejoined his father in the officeamid his planned acquisition of Twitter. According toThe Washington Post, X was running around the office while tense discussions were underway and Musk had taken over the conference room for his son, with the room reportedly “strewn with toys.” Musk even shared a photo ofX’s official employee badge.
While some outlets framed the situation as inappropriate, Grimes said she was happy that X could join his father at work, after previously revealing that Musksees the little boy as his “protégé.”
Since then, X has continued to develop his passion for spacecraft, with Grimescalling him a “little engineer.”In an interview withWired, she explained that it’s hard to buy him toys as he gets upset when they’re not “anatomically correct.” It got to a point where she admits she was worried about his “obsession with space,” especially after he witnessedSpaceX’s Starship rocket explodeafter takeoff in April 2023.
“X knows a lot about rockets. It’s crazy. He knows more about rockets than me,” she told the outlet. “When X saw Starship blow up, he had, like, a three-day PTSD meltdown. Every hour, he was waking up and going, ‘Starship … ’ and I had to rub his back.”
X joined his dad at work once again when heaccompanied Musk on a visit to the Oval Officein February 2025 to witness PresidentDonald Trumpsign an executive order. However, this time, Grimes was not pleased about the outing, writing onXthat she only found out he was there from the social media platform and that she didn’t feel like it was an appropriate place for her son.
“He should not be in public like this,” the singer wrote. “I did not see this, thank u for alerting me. But I’m glad he was polite. Sigh.”
Exa Dark Sideræl, 3
Exa Musk.Grimes Twitter
Grimes Twitter
In December 2021, Musk and Grimessecretly welcomed a daughtervia surrogate. News of their new addition didn’t surface until March 2022, when Grimes opened up about the little girl inVanity Fair. In the cover story, Grimes revealed that they named her Exa Dark Sideræl but call her Y for short. Although Grimes wanted to name the infant Odysseus after a girl she’d seen in her dreams, the couple ultimately agreed on Y.
Like her big brother, Y’s name has significance to her parents. Exa refers to the supercomputing term exaFLOPS, while Dark represents “the unknown.” Grimes explained, “People fear it but truly it’s the absence of photons. Dark matter is the beautiful mystery of our universe.”
Meanwhile, Sideræl is pronounced “sigh-deer-ee-el” and is a “more elven” spelling of sidereal. According to Grimes, it means “the true time of the universe, star time, deep space time, not our relative earth time.” It also has a double meaning and is a tribute to Grimes’ favoriteLord of the Ringscharacter, Galadriel, who “chooses to abdicate the ring.”
As for the little girl’s nickname, Grimes explainedin a social media postthat she’s called “Y” or “ ‘Why?’ or just ‘?’ ” although she noted that the “government won’t recognize that.”
Since her birth, Grimes and Musk have kept many other details of Y’s life private. Grimes has only shared small glimpses into the little girl’s life, sharing thatshe loves techno music, especially the musician Boris Brejcha.
Grimes has also shared that Y is following in her brother X’s footsteps and is a “little engineer” like him. While X is focused on rockets, Grimes toldWiredthat Y likes “industrial shipping” — admitting that her daughter is a “little strange.”
Techno Mechanicus, 2
Grimes and Elon Musk at the 2018 MET Gala.Taylor Hill/Getty
Taylor Hill/Getty
“Tau is so amazing. 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 in the biography.
“I wish I could show u how cute little Techno is 👽 but my priority rn is keeping my babies out of the public eye, Plz respect that at this time 🙏🏻,” Grimes wrote.
source: people.com
