Whether in the media or through all the Tesla cars on the road, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is everywhere. Delighting half the world, and infuriating the other half is his tried-and-test way of doing things. As for his family, in recent years he has grown quite the progeny. According to various sources, Elon Musk has had 11 known children by three different women.
This may seem like a larger number, but Musk has repeatedly stated his self-ordained duty to procreate as much as possible. Believing that depopulation is the greatest threat to humanity, according to CNN, Musk is doing his part in creating as many babies as he can. (For more famous families, learn about Hollywood’s most famous acting dynasties.)
To compile a list of Elon Musk’s children, 24/7 Tempo consulted a variety of publications including Vanity Fair and People. Though details are scarce about Musk’s children, much of the second-hand information was verified through matching different sources such as Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of Elon Musk.
Nevada Alexander, Griffin, and Xavier (Vivian)
Elon Musk’s first child, Nevada Alexander, was with Canadian writer and author Justine Wilson. The couple married in 2000 after meeting at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. Two years after they wed, Wilson gave birth to Nevada Alexander.
Tragically, Nevada died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) at only 10 weeks old. Though the child spent three days on life support, the baby ultimately succumbed to SIDS. According to an email exchange published by Business Insider, Musk was heartbroken. “My firstborn son died in my arms. I felt his heartbeat,” Musk said.
Two years later in 2004, however, Musk and Justine Wilson welcomed two new babies into the world. After losing their first child, the couple turned to In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) to conceive. It was a success, as Wilson gave birth to twins Griffin and Xavier Musk in April 2004.
Though Griffin has stayed out of the spotlight, Xavier made the news in June 2022 when they legally requested their name be changed to Vivian Jenna Wilson. According to the legal filing paperwork, Vivian requested the name change due to “gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Kai, Saxon, and Damian
In 2006, Musk and Wilson welcomed three new children to the family. Also conceived through In-Vitro Fertilization, the all-boy triplets are Kai, Saxon, and Damian Musk, which Wilson revealed in a TED Talk. Though the couple has shied away from discussing the triplets publicly, some information has come out through Isaacson’s biography of Musk. (Click here for the most famous identical twins of all time.)
According to the book, Damian became a vegetarian at age 8 to decrease his carbon footprint. The book also notes that Damian has become something of a classical music prodigy, as well as excelling in math and physics.
As for Musk and Justine Wilson, the couple divorced two years later in 2008. After that, Musk began dating actress Tallulah Riley, whom he married in 2010. Two years later, however, the couple divorced. This wasn’t the end of their story though, as the pair remarried in 2013. Then, Musk filed a second divorce petition on New Year’s Eve 2014 before withdrawing it seven months later. Finally, in 2016, Riley filed for divorce from Musk and it was finalized a few months later. The union(s), however, produced no children.
X Æ A-12
A few years later, Musk began publicly dating musician and singer Grimes. Grimes announced their first child through social media with a picture of her baby bump in January 2020. Four months later, on May 4, 2020, the couple welcomed their first child, a boy named X Æ A-12 (later renamed X Æ A-Xii). The controversial name was inspired, at least partially, by the CIA’s Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance plane.
Perhaps the most publicly recognized child of Musk, X Æ A-Xii made headlines after joining his father at Twitter headquarters for business meetings. Not long after, the boy was spotted accompanying his father to the MMA Global Possible Conference in Miami.
According to interviews given by Grimes, X Æ A-Xii has cultivated an early love of rockets and all things spacecraft. As relayed by the singer, the boy is so obsessed with spacecraft that he had a three-day meltdown after SpaceX’s rocket exploded after takeoff.
Strider and Azure Musk
Hardly a year later, Musk secretly welcomed twins with Shivon Zilis. The twins, son Strider and daughter Azure, were born in November 2021 in Austin, Texas. As for the mother, Shivon Zilis is the project director at Musk’s company Neuralink and has worked closely with him for nearly a decade.
Though these children were born in relative secret, court documents published by Business Insider, reveal more information. According to these documents, the parents asked the Texas courts to change the babies’ names so they would have Musk’s last name and Zilis’s last name as part of their middle name.
It was only in September 2023, however, that Musk and Zilis publicly shared the names and sexes of their two children.
Exa Dark Sideræl and Techno Mechanicus
Though Musk and Grimes broke up in the summer of 2021, and Musk had twins with Shivon Zilis in November 2021, Musk and Grimes welcomed another baby into the world just a month later in December 2021. As revealed by Grimes in a Vanity Fair article from a year later, the baby girl was born via surrogate and named Exa Dark Sideræl.
According to Grimes, the name is a fusion of a few different concepts. Exa refers to the supercomputing term ExaFLOPS while Dark represents the unknown. As for Sideræl, the name is supposed to be a more elven spelling of sidereal, which according to Grimes is “the true time of the universe… not our relative earth time.” The name is also a nod to Lord of the Ring’s character Galadriel.
As per Grimes’ reveal, Exa Dark Sideræl is a precocious child with a fascination with engineering and industrial shipping.
That isn’t all, however, Isaacson’s biography of the eccentric billionaire revealed another child from Musk and Grimes. According to the book, released in September 2023, the on-and-off-again couple secretly welcomed another son named Techno Mechanicus. Though details as to the boy’s birthday or age are scarce, the book does reveal he goes known by his nickname “Tau.”
For more information about the entrepreneur and billionaire, click here for 10 amazing things invented by Elon Musk.