Elon Musk reveals the surprising origin of his name

Elon Musk is known for many things including the unique names he has given to some of his children. But how did he get his own name?

He has 12 children, but Musk's penchant for unusual names seemingly began after he started dating Grimes in May 2018.

Two years after their relationship came to light, their first child was born, a son named X Æ A-Xii. Known simply as “X” just like his dad’s social media app. The four-year-old had a viral appearance at the White House this month.

Elon Musk and Grimes Getty

Explaining the meaning behind each part of the name, Grimes tweeted that the “X” symbolised “the unknown variable”. “Æ” was the “elven spelling of AI (love and/or artificial intelligence)”.

The last part of the boy's name was originally “A-12”, and it served as a reference to the precursor to her and Musk’s “favourite aircraft”, the SR-71. This part of the name was tweaked to "ii" to comply with California law, which prohibits numbers in legal names.

The SpaceX founder also had twins with Neuralink director of operations and special projects, Shivon Zilis, in November 2021. They were named Azure and Strider.

Just one month after welcoming the twins, Musk and Grimes had a daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, who was born via surrogate, in December 2021. Grimes and Musk have a third child called Techno Mechanicus who was born in June 2022 via surrogate.

But with all of these unusual names in the family, what's the inspiration behind the name of the man himself?

The tech billionaire’s first name has roots linked to his mother’s side of the family. “Elon” was the name of his mother’s grandfather and the name itself is of Hebrew origin and means “oak tree”.

Musk’s maternal great-grandfather, John Elon Haldeman was the father of Joshua Norman Haldeman, a chiropractor and aviator from Minnesota who moved to Canada where he became involved in politics.

He eventually relocated to South Africa in 1950, along with his family including his daughter and Elon's mother, Maye Musk, who was born in Saskatchewan, Canada two years before the move. Joshua was a supporter of apartheid and expressed anti-Semitic views, The Atlanticreports.

During an interview with 60 Minutes in 2014, Musk spoke about his Midwestern roots and where his first name comes from. “A lot of people think my name must be from some exotic location but I was named after my great-grandfather who was from Minneapolis, or Saint Paul I should say, and he was a school superintendent and part-time sheriff in 1900 and I was named after him. I’m actually from Africa and named after my American ancestor.Speaking of Elon's family affairs, his father, Errol Musk, spoke about his son on a podcast this month. Meanwhile, a social media post apparently "predicted" the birth of his 13th child.

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