Elon Musk has said his youngest child’s name “sounds like a password” after a reporter mispronounced it.
In a video of a recent interview, which was uploaded onto YouTube by Tobias Lindh, Musk is showing talking to a reporter at Giga Berlin, which is the European manufacturing plant for his company, Tesla.
The reporter is heard asking Musk: "How's X Æ A-12?", which they pronounce as “ex-ash-ay-twelve”.
Musk looks confused and replies, “sorry?”
The reporter repeats and Musk bursts out laughing.
"Oh, you mean my kid! That sounds like a password," he replied.
Both Musk and the reporter appeared to laugh off the confusion.
“He's great!” the Tesla billionaire replied.
"I think next time I am going to bring him, maybe come back in a few months and bring him along."
Much confusion has been caused by Musk’s unusual name choice for his son with the singer Grimes.
When the comedian Joe Rogan asked Musk how to pronounce the name on his podcast in May, he said: "I mean it's just X, the letter X. And then, the Æ is, like, pronounced 'Ash'. And then, A-12, A-12 is my contribution. Archangel 12, the precursor to the SR-71, is the coolest plane ever."
The couple were forced to change the baby’s name so that it complied with California law.
According to the state law, names must be written on birth certificates “using the 26 alphabetical letters of the English language”, however apostrophes and dashes can be included.
Grimes, whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher, confirmed that the spelling of the baby's name has been changed.
In May the singer posted a new photo on Instagram, which received hundreds of comments from fans, including one which asked: “Did you change the baby name because of Californian laws? What is the baby's new name?”.
Grimes responded: “X Æ A-Xii”, before adding: “Roman numerals. Looks better tbh” and “One dash is allowed.”
