Artificial intelligence, elf lore and an aircraft used by NASA are just a few things that inspired the internet’s new favorite baby name, X Æ A-12.
Canadian musician Grimes explained her newborn’s baffling namesake Tuesday night on Twitter, while boyfriend Elon Musk took the opportunity to correct her — fewer than two days after she gave birth.
“X, the unknown variable … Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence) … A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft),” Grimes wrote. “No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent + (A=Archangel, my favorite song).”
Cue the SpaceX CEO’s unsolicited correction: “SR-71, but yes.”
Anyway, the 32-year-old “Oblivion” hit-maker cut herself some slack for mixing up the order of two numbers while introducing her own child to the world.
“I am recovering from surgery and barely alive so may my typos b forgiven but, damnit,” she replied to Musk, who is known for his controversial Twitter remarks. “That was meant to be profound.”
On Tuesday, the 48-year-old Tesla mastermind nearly broke the internet when he revealed the first photos and futuristic name of his son. As soon as X Æ A-12 Musk arrived, social media erupted with memes about baby robots and how to pronounce the infant’s name. (For the record, we still don’t know.)
Before X Æ A-12’s official name was unveiled, some speculated that the experimental pop artist and her tech-mogul beau would dub their offspring an obscure computer code or “ERROR404” alert. As noted by Grimes at the time, their predictions were “on point.”
One troll targeted Grimes directly Tuesday on Twitter, quipping, “You realize this is a human child and not an EP right(?),” likely referring to the artist’s titles for previous albums.
“I think it sounds like the name of the main character in the story,” Grimes responded with a planet emoji. “I hope he vibes with that. Ok, going back to the pain/beauty reverie for sum time, just came on to add my thoughts. Peace to all.”
———
©2020 Los Angeles Times
Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.