Exa Dark Sideræl (1) is history. As singer Grimes (35) confirmed on Twitter, her daughter’s name is now “Y, or ‘Why?’ or just ‘?'”. She also posted photos showing the mother-daughter duo in a partner look. The 35-year-old gave birth to their daughter in December 2021 after separating from Elon Musk (51). Her previous name, Exa Dark Sideræl, was unusual, but hardly surprising after the first child, X Æ A-12 (2). As Grimes further reveals, the name change is not yet official, and the authorities will not accept the new name.
Behind the name would be “curiosity, the eternal question and something like that”, as Grimes explains. However, online reactions have been mixed. “Y is a beautiful name. I like that single letter,” commented one user. “She’s so lovely. She deserves more than a question mark,” said another user.
In April 2022, Grimes revealed in an interview with “Vanity Fair” that she would name her daughter Y. She also revealed her former full name later in the interview. Exa would refer to exaFLOPS, a measure of computer performance. Dark is “the unknown”. Sideræl, on the other hand, is an elfin word meant to describe “the true time of the universe.”
The fact that she chose the name Y for her daughter seems to have another reason. Brother X Æ A-12 is also only called X by Grimes, as she revealed in a conversation with the “New York Times” in 2020. Accordingly, X is “the unknown variable”. Æ is the elven spelling of Ai (English abbreviation for artificial intelligence). And the A-12 was the predecessor of her favorite plane.
