Let’s step away for a moment from all the heavy news and enjoy some of our favorite escapism in these tough times: celebrity baby names!
In our January Name News post, we were counting down the days until billionaire Elon Musk and musician girlfriend Grimes had their baby and announced THE NAME. Now that moment has come and the couple’s predictably unpredictable baby name has been announced. The last few weeks and months have given us some interesting celebrity baby names, but Musk and Grimes’ newborn son has people talking like no other. Step aside Moon Unit, Pilot Inspektor, Kal-El, and Raddix, this one might usurp all others: X Æ A-12 Musk.
X Æ A-12 Musk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2020
The first child for Grimes (born Claire Boucher), X Æ A-12 is Musk’s sixth, joining siblings Damian, Griffin, Xavier, Saxon, and Kai (sadly, first-born Nevada passed away from SIDS at 10 months). The Space X CEO seemingly has a taste for uncommon names, but this is some next-level stuff.
Yesterday, there were some fascinating and convincing Reddit theories about baby Musk’s name. But then no more theories were needed. Grimes stepped in later that day to give an explanation of the name on Twitter, which appears to be for real:
•X, the unknown variable ⚔️
— ꧁ ༒ Gℜiꪔ⃕es ༒꧂ 🍓🐉🎀 小仙女 (@Grimezsz) May 6, 2020
•Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence)
•A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent 🤍
+
(A=Archangel, my favorite song)
(⚔️🐁 metal rat)
As for the pronunciation, (or potential nicknames), we’re still waiting for it!
And about as far away on the style spectrum as you can get from X Æ A-12 is British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s new baby’s name: Wilfred. Born April 29th, Johnson’s fiancée Carrie Symonds gave birth to Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson. The baby was named Wilfred after his paternal grandfather, Lawrie after his maternal grandfather, and Nicholas after the doctors who cared for Boris Johnson when he was recently hospitalized.
Speaking of honor names, CNN reporter Anderson Cooper is a first-time papa at age 52 to baby Wyatt Morgan, born via surrogate.
The silver-haired, first-time father gave his son family names–Wyatt for his late father and Morgan, a family name on his mother’s side (his late mother was designer and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt).
An old yet new baby name in the news is that of Amy Schumer’s son, Gene. Two weeks ago, Schumer publicly announced her son’s name change from Gene Attell Fischer to Gene David Fischer. When her son with chef Chris Fischer was born, our first reaction was, “like, genital fissure?!” We quickly swooped over to social media and found that many, many people had the same reaction to the name. The fact that Amy is a comedian left us all wondering whether the name was a joke or an unfortunate oversight. Almost a year later, the couple announced they’d made a change, swapping out middle name Attell with David–which confirms that baby Gene’s middle name had indeed been for Schumer’s good friend, fellow-comedian Dave Attell. We’re personally glad to see such a high-profile name change, a good reminder that it’s okay to change a name if it isn’t right, even in the public eye.
Soccer star Hope Solo and her husband, former NFL player Jerramy Stevens, welcomed fraternal twins back in April. Their name choices are not only rarely used, they are also linked to one another.
Daughter Lozen’s name means “one who steals horses” and she appears to have been named for Lozen, the warrior and prophet of the Chihenne Chiricahua Apache. As for Solo and Stevens’ son, he was named Vittorio, who was the warrior Lozen’s brother (sometimes spelled Victorio). We love the sibling connection the names share, and the reference isn’t relevant enough in the here and now to be too obvious.
Rounding out some other notable celebrity baby births, actress Jenna Dewan and fiance Steve Kazee welcomed son Callum Michael Rebel Kazee in March. Callum joins big sister Everly Tatum (whom Dewan shares with ex-husband, actor Channing Tatum). A blend of trendy and traditional with a touch of edge, the name strikes a balance that feels very modern and fitting alongside an Everly.
That’s it for this celebrity name round-up! Congratulations to all the new parents out there, famous or not, and to all the others expecting babies during this crazy time. Be well!