How do you pronounce the name? It's X-Ash-A-twelve

Mr Elon Musk welcomed the arrival of his son on Monday.
Mr Elon Musk welcomed the arrival of his son on Monday. PHOTO: ELON MUSK/ TWITTER

LOS ANGELES • The head honcho of aerospace company SpaceX, Mr Elon Musk, and his musician girlfriend Grimes lit up the Internet when they announced that their newborn son's name was XÆ A-12 Musk.

The duo announced the unusual name on Twitter following the baby boy's birth on May 4.

Mr Musk has since broken down the pronunciation of the name on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, hosted by American comedian and television host Joe Rogan.

The podcast, which aired on Thursday, explained how the X is pronounced "like the letter X", is pronounced "ash" and A-12 is said as how it appears.

Thus "X-Ash-A-twelve".

However, the state of California has something to say about the name.

Mr Matt Conens, from the Office of Public Affairs of the California Department of Public Health, wrote in an e-mail to USA Today: "A name like 'XÆ A-12' would not be allowed. Vital records must be completed with the 26 alphabetical characters of the English language and appropriate punctuation such as hyphens, apostrophes, periods and commas."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 09, 2020, with the headline How do you pronounce the name? It's X-Ash-A-twelve. Subscribe