Elon Musk Reveals Inspiration Behind Twins’ Names With Shivon Zilis

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Elon Musk is sharing a rare look at his life as a dad.

People are curious about how Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis chose the names for their four-year-old twins, Strider Sekhar Sirius and Azure Astra Alice, who were born in November 2021.

Elon Musk revealed the names of his twins on X (formerly Twitter). He shared that his son is named Strider Sekhar, after both Aragorn from Lord of the Rings and the renowned Indian physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, and his daughter is Comet Azure, inspired by a powerful spell from the video game Elden Ring. This came after Tesla Owners Silicon Valley posted a photo of Elon with his children at an event in 2025.

Oh my gosh, Strider! That’s Aragorn, and Viggo Mortensen was him in Peter Jackson’s amazing Lord of the Rings movies, based on Tolkien’s books, of course. And then there’s Elden Ring… Elon just loves that game, seriously. It’s like, his absolute favorite!

In 2022, Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter) that completing the game Elden Ring was, in his opinion, the most beautiful artistic experience he’d ever had.

As a lifestyle expert, I’ve noticed Elon Musk really marches to the beat of his own drum – especially when it comes to naming his kids! With 14 children total, he clearly loves to be unique. Take his son with Grimes, X Æ A-Xii – yes, that’s the actual name! They originally filed with ‘X Æ A-12’, but California law required a slight adjustment to make it official. It just goes to show, even for a visionary like Elon, there are rules to follow!

Grimes explained the meaning behind her child’s unique name in a 2020 social media post. ‘X’ represents the unknown variable, while ‘Æ’ is her elven-inspired spelling of ‘AI,’ which stands for both love and artificial intelligence. ‘A-12’ refers to a predecessor of the SR-17 aircraft—a fast plane designed for speed, not combat or defense. She described it as being powerful in battle but ultimately non-violent.

They later had two children: a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl, who is now 4, and a son named Techno “Tau” Mechanicus, who is 3.

Grimes explained to Vanity Fair in 2022 that the name ‘Exa’ comes from ‘exaFLOPS,’ a term used in supercomputing that refers to the ability to perform one quintillion calculations per second. She described ‘Dark’ as representing the unknown, clarifying that it’s simply the lack of light, and that dark matter is one of the universe’s most fascinating mysteries.

She explained that Sideræl—pronounced “sigh-deer-ee-el”—represents universal time, based on stars and deep space, rather than time as we experience it on Earth. The name is also a tribute to Galadriel, a character from Lord of the Rings, who famously chooses to give up the One Ring.

Interested in learning about Elon Musk’s family, including his children and their unique names? Keep reading…

Maye was born in Saskatchewan, Canada and moved to Pretoria, South Africa with her parents in 1950 at the age of 7. She separated from Elon Musk’s father, Errol Musk, in 1979.

Maye became a Canadian citizen automatically when she was born after Elon moved to Canada at age 17. She then built a career as a registered dietitian, eventually leading the Consulting Dieticians of Canada, and also worked as a model.

After selling his company Zip2 for over $300 million in 2019, Elon Musk bought an apartment in New York City for his mother. She lived there for 13 years and continued her work as a model, even signing with the prestigious IMG Models agency.

In an essay for CNBC, Maye explained that she raised her children with the same values her parents instilled in her: independence, kindness, honesty, thoughtfulness, and good manners. She also emphasized the importance of hard work and doing what’s right.

Elon’s father is an engineer and like Elon, was born in South Africa.

In a 2015 interview with Forbes, Errol Musk mentioned frequently traveling the world with his children after his divorce—he said, “Their mother and I split up when they were quite young and the kids stayed with me. I took them all over the world.” Despite this, his relationship with his son, Elon, isn’t always smooth.

In a candid 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Elon Musk spoke openly about his difficult relationship with his father and his childhood. He explained that after his parents divorced, living with his father turned out to be a mistake.

However, Errol told Rolling Stone, “I love my children and would readily do whatever for them.”

After divorcing Maye, Errol married Heide, who had a four-year-old daughter named Jana Bezuidenhout. Errol and Heide later had two daughters of their own, but they eventually separated as well.

After experiencing her own heartbreak, Jana contacted Errol. In a 2018 interview with The Sunday Times, Errol described them both as lonely and lost individuals who found each other. He playfully suggested their connection was simply meant to be – a result of fate or natural connection.

The couple fell in love and had a son, Elliott, in 2017, followed by a daughter in 2019. Errol explained to The Sun that he believes the purpose of life is to have children, stating he would happily have more if he could, and doesn’t see any reason not to.

Born in 1972, Kimbal is a restaurant owner and created The Kitchen, a group of five restaurants committed to sourcing ingredients directly from local farms. He also leads Big-Green, a non-profit organization that has established 200 educational gardens in schools throughout the United States.

Tosca, a filmmaker born in 1974, created Passionflix in 2017. Passionflix is a streaming service designed for women and aims to capitalize on the popular and lucrative world of romance novels.

Elon Musk married Justine Wilson, his college sweetheart from Queen’s University in Canada, in 2000. In a 2010 article for Marie Claire titled “I Was a Starter Wife: Inside America’s Messiest Divorce,” Justine recalled that Elon told her during their wedding reception, “I am the alpha in this marriage.”

At the time, I didn’t think much of it,” Justine explained, “much like I later dismissed signing the postnuptial agreement. But eventually, I realized he was being genuine about what he said.”

In 2002, Justine and her partner experienced the heartbreaking loss of their 10-week-old son, Nevada Alexander, to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). According to Justine, Nevada was put down for a nap as usual, on his back, and simply stopped breathing.

After undergoing IVF, the couple had five more children: twins Vivian and Griffin, and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian.

In 2008, Elon filed for divorce.

In 2022, Elon Musk shared that he brought his children, Griffin and the triplets, to meet Pope Francis. Though honored to meet the head of the Catholic Church, Elon jokingly described his suit as “tragic.”

In 2022, Griffin’s twin sister also legally changed her name to reflect her gender identity. As part of the process, she stated she wanted no further relationship with their biological father.

During a July 2024 interview with Jordan Peterson on Daily Wire, Elon Musk discussed his daughter’s gender transition. He stated that he felt like he had lost his son, and referred to his child by her original name, claiming she had been affected by what he called the “woke mind virus.”

He claimed he was misled into signing medical paperwork that authorized Vivian to receive gender-affirming care.

Vivian disagreed with his statements, telling NBC News, “He wasn’t tricked at all. He was fully aware of the potential side effects.”

In a 2025 interview with Teen Vogue, Vivian shared that she moved from Los Angeles to Japan and hasn’t communicated with her father since 2020. She described him as immature, stating, “I’m not afraid of him just because he has money. Money means nothing to me.”

Elon and Talulah, both known for their roles on HBO’s Westworld, got married in 2010. Talulah later told CBS News that things moved quickly – they were engaged after only about two weeks of dating.

Let’s talk relationships! It’s been a bit of a journey for Talulah Riley – she and her ex went through two divorces, first in 2012, then again in 2016, but decided to give it another shot and remarried in between. Thankfully, she’s found lasting happiness! She recently married the lovely Thomas Brodie-Sangster – you might recognize him from Love Actually – and it’s wonderful to see her so happy.

Elon Musk and Amber Heard began dating publicly in early 2017, following both of their divorces – hers from Johnny Depp and his from Talulah Riley (this was his second marriage). However, their relationship was short-lived.

In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Elon Musk revealed he had recently gone through a breakup. He admitted he was deeply in love and was very hurt by the split, adding that his girlfriend had initiated it more than he had.

Elon Musk and the singer Grimes had an on-again, off-again relationship for four years, beginning in 2018. In September 2021, Musk told Page Six they were essentially separated, explaining that his work with SpaceX and Tesla kept him mostly in Texas or traveling, while Grimes’ work was based in Los Angeles. At the time, he said Grimes was staying with him and their son, nicknamed Baby X, was nearby.

In March 2022, she told Vanity Fair that they live in separate homes but remain close as best friends.

I was so touched by her recent tweet! She shared that she and E had actually broken up again since the article was written, but she made it clear they’re still incredibly close – he’s her best friend and the love of her life. It’s beautiful, really, how she’s now fully committed her life and her art to ‘The Mission’.

In September 2023, it was revealed that the couple had three children. The singer confirmed this, sharing that their newest child, Techno Mechanicus, joined big brother X Æ A-12 and sister Exa Dark Sideræl.

Grimes shared in November 2024 that she’d spent the past year in a difficult legal battle, facing challenges to her custody of her children based on her social media presence. This struggle happened while she was also going through a painful separation from the father of her children, feeling like he was changing into someone she didn’t know.

Despite being limited in what she could bring to bear, she was prevented from seeing one of her children for five months. She explained that this was just the part of her story she could share publicly, as much of what she’d gone through in recent years needed to remain private.

I was so excited when Elon and Grimes had their son in 2020! His original name was… unique, to say the least. They quickly realized California law only allows English letters for birth certificates, so they had to make a little adjustment. That’s how he ended up being officially named X Æ A-Xii – it’s still pretty cool and definitely reflects their style!

Grimes shared the meaning behind her child’s unique name on social media. ‘X’ represents an unknown variable, while ‘Æ’ is her elven-inspired way of spelling ‘AI,’ short for love and/or Artificial Intelligence. ‘A-12’ refers to a predecessor of the SR-17 aircraft – their favorite plane. She emphasized that it’s about speed, not weaponry, and that while powerful, it’s a non-violent concept.

Grimes continued, “A=Archangel, my favorite song” adding a rat and sword emoji. “Metal rat.”

As I shared with my followers, in a 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, Grimes let us in on some personal news – she and Elon secretly welcomed a baby girl through surrogacy. It was a lovely surprise to hear about their growing family!

She explained that ‘Exa’ comes from ‘exaFLOPS,’ a term used in supercomputing that means being able to perform a quintillion calculations per second. As for ‘Dark,’ she said it represents the unknown – something people often fear, but which is simply the lack of light. She described dark matter as one of the universe’s most fascinating mysteries.

Sideræl (pronounced sigh-deer-ee-el) is what my mom calls the real time of the universe – a time based on stars and deep space, rather than our everyday earth time. She named it after Galadriel, a character from Lord of the Rings, because, like the character, it represents letting go of something powerful.

Walter Isaacson revealed in his biography Elon Musk that Exa was born in December 2021 via surrogate.

The book reveals that around Father’s Day 2022, the couple, who had an on-and-off relationship, welcomed a son named Techno Mechanicus, but they call him Tau. The baby was born via surrogate, and the book features a June 2022 photo of Elon feeding him.

Grimes has repeatedly asked for her children to be kept out of the public eye, even trying legal options, but hasn’t been successful. She’s deeply worried about the impact of this constant attention on their lives and actively searches for solutions, finding it frustrating that there’s no effective way to protect their privacy.

In 2022, court records revealed that Elon Musk had twins with Shivon Zilis, an executive at his company Neuralink. The twins were born in Austin, Texas, where Musk resides.

He also commented on the report via X, stating he’s trying to help address the declining birth rate, which he believes is the most significant threat to humanity.

“Mark my words,” he added, “they are sadly true.”

A 2023 biography of Elon Musk revealed the full names of his twins: Strider Sekhar Sirius and Azure Astra Alice. Musk explained that Strider’s name came from the nickname of Aragorn, a character in The Lord of the Rings, and in honor of the late physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Azure’s name, he said, was inspired by a spell from the video game Elden Ring.

Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis had their third child together on February 28, 2024. Musk confirmed the birth to Page Six in June, explaining that just because they didn’t announce it with a press release doesn’t mean it was a secret. He said everyone close to them already knew.

A year after opening, Shivon wrote on Twitter, “Happy birthday, sweet Arcadia! I love you so much.”

Okay, so like, everyone knows roses are red and violets are blue, but February 14th, 2025? That’s the day everything changed! Our queen, Ashley St. Clair, was about to reveal something HUGE, and honestly, I’ve been counting down the seconds ever since. It was a big moment, a sharing moment, and I was so ready for it!

Okay, so this is HUGE! Five months ago, I had a baby, and… well, Elon Musk is the father. I named him Romulus, after the first king of Rome – I just loved the name! I’ve been keeping it quiet, trying to protect my little boy’s privacy, but it looks like the tabloids are about to spill everything anyway, and I’m honestly so worried about what that will do to him. It’s just… everything feels so exposed now.

As a devoted follower, I was really touched by what she shared. She simply wants to give her child a normal, secure upbringing, and she’s asking the media to respect their privacy and avoid overly intrusive reporting. It’s a reasonable request, really – every child deserves that chance to grow up safely.

Following reports that her representative asked Elon Musk to publicly recognize his role as a father to their child, she claimed he had reduced the financial support he provides. This led Musk to respond to the allegations on social media.

He posted on X on March 31st that he wasn’t sure if he was the child’s father, but he was open to finding out. He also revealed he’d already given Ashley $2.5 million and continues to send her $500,000 each year.

She could have received even more money, according to an April article in the Wall Street Journal. The article claimed that Elon Musk’s employee, Jared Birchall, offered Ashley $15 million plus $100,000 each month for child support if she didn’t discuss their child.

However, Ashley said she told him, “I don’t want my son to feel like he’s a secret.”

On February 28, 2025, Elon and Shivon announced the birth of their fourth child, a son named Seldon Lycurgus. They decided to share the news while celebrating their third child’s first birthday.

I spoke with Elon, and because it’s Arcadia’s birthday, we wanted to share news about our amazing son, Seldon Lycurgus. He’s strong and kind, and we love him very much, I wrote on X.

Elon responded with a heart emoji.

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2026-01-09 00:49