Elon Musk Children: Names, Ages & Family Background

Quick Answer: As of 2025, Elon Musk has 12 known children with three women: author and ex-wife Justine Musk, musician Grimes (Claire Boucher), and Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis. One child, Nevada Alexander, died in infancy in 2002. His surviving children range in age from toddlers to young adults, and several have made headlines in their own right.

Quick Facts: Elon Musk

Elon Musk is one of the most covered figures on the planet. Electric vehicles, rocket launches, social media acquisitions — his name dominates headlines across industries. But behind the product reveals and press cycles is a family life that is, by almost any measure, remarkable in its scale and complexity.

Musk has 12 known children with three different women, born across more than two decades. That number includes one son, Nevada Alexander Musk, who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) at 10 weeks old in 2002. His surviving 11 children range from young adults navigating their own public lives to toddlers still years away from school.

His reasoning for having a large family has been stated openly. In a 2021 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Musk said he believes declining birth rates are “one of the biggest risks to civilization” and that he feels a personal responsibility to contribute to population growth. That philosophical conviction — combined with three distinct relationships — has produced a family tree that stretches across decades, continents, and cultural moments.

This guide covers everything that is publicly known and verified about Elon Musk’s children: their names, ages, birth dates, and the circumstances that brought them into the world. Where information is unverified or disputed, it is clearly flagged as such.

A Complete Timeline of Elon Musk’s Children

Nevada Alexander Musk (2002–2002)

Elon Musk’s first child with then-wife Justine Musk was a boy named Nevada Alexander. Born in 2002, Nevada died of sudden infant death syndrome at just 10 weeks old — a loss that, by Justine Musk’s account, fundamentally altered their marriage.

Justine wrote about Nevada’s death in a Marie Claire essay published in 2010, describing it as an experience she and Elon processed very differently. Her account remains the most detailed and widely cited firsthand record of this chapter of the family’s history. Nevada’s death is rarely mentioned in Musk’s public statements.

Griffin Musk and Xavier Musk (born 2004)

Elon and Justine’s second pregnancy produced twins — Griffin Musk and Xavier Musk — born in 2004 via IVF. Both are now in their early twenties.

Xavier Musk made significant news in 2022 after filing a petition in Los Angeles County to change her name and gender marker. Xavier, who uses she/her pronouns according to court filings reported by Reuters and The New York Times, also requested that her last name be changed from Musk to Wilson — stating publicly that she no longer wished to be associated with her father. The name change was legally granted in 2022. Elon Musk commented on the matter on X (formerly Twitter), expressing disappointment.

Griffin Musk has maintained a considerably lower public profile. Detailed, verified information about his current life is not widely available.

Kai Musk, Saxon Musk, and Damian Musk (born 2006)

Elon and Justine’s fifth, sixth, and seventh children — Kai Musk, Saxon Musk, and Damian Musk — were born in 2006 as triplets, also via IVF. The triplets are now teenagers. Justine Musk has been protective of their privacy, and very little verified information exists about their individual lives. According to Justine’s own writing and interviews, she has primary custody of all five of her surviving sons with Musk.

X AE A-XII Musk (born May 4, 2020)

On May 4, 2020, Elon Musk and musician Grimes (legal name Claire Elise Boucher) welcomed their first child together. The name — X AE A-XII — became an immediate global story.

In posts on X at the time, both Musk and Grimes explained the name’s components: “X” as the unknown variable, “AE” as their elven spelling of “AI,” “A-12” as a reference to the Archangel 12 aircraft, and “XII” replacing “12” after California naming regulations required characters to fall within the standard English alphabet. The child is referred to by family and close friends simply as “X.” X’s sex was listed as male at birth.

According to interviews Grimes gave to Vanity Fair in 2022, she and Musk had separated by that point — though they remained on co-parenting terms that Grimes described as unconventional but functional.

Exa Dark Sideræl Musk (born December 2021)

In December 2021, Grimes and Musk welcomed a daughter via surrogate. Her full name — Exa Dark Sideræl Musk — was revealed by Grimes in a Vanity Fair cover story published in March 2022.

Grimes explained each element of the name: “Exa” refers to the exaFLOP, a unit of computing power; “Dark” represents the unknown and the beauty of dark matter in the universe; and “Sideræl” (pronounced “sih-DEER-ee-ul”) is an esoteric spelling of “sidereal,” relating to the stars. She goes by the nickname “Y.” Exa Dark Sideræl Musk is the couple’s second confirmed child together.

Strider Musk (birth year unconfirmed)

Reports emerging in 2023 indicated that Grimes and Musk had a third child together, named Strider Musk. This was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. However, neither Musk nor Grimes has publicly confirmed this child’s existence in any detail. This information should be treated as unverified until officially confirmed by either parent.

Shivon Zilis Twins (born November 2021)

In July 2022, Business Insider and Reuters confirmed through court filings that Elon Musk had fathered twins with Shivon Zilis, a director and executive at Neuralink — the brain-computer interface company Musk co-founded. The twins were born in November 2021, just weeks before Exa Dark Sideræl Musk was born via surrogate with Grimes.

Court documents filed in April 2022 showed Musk and Zilis petitioned to have the children’s names changed to include the Musk surname. The children’s first names have not been publicly disclosed, and their sex has not been officially confirmed. All details beyond what has been established through verified court documents and major news reporting remain unconfirmed.

Techno Mechanicus Musk (reported 2024)

In late 2024, reports emerged — first cited in journalist Ashlee Vance’s biography Elon Musk, published in September 2023, and later picked up by outlets including Business Insider — that Musk and Zilis had a third child together, named Techno Mechanicus, known by the nickname “Tau.” The birth year is reported as 2024. This information has not been directly confirmed by Musk or Zilis in any public statement and should be treated with appropriate caution.

Elon Musk’s Known Children: A Complete Summary Table

Who Are the Three Women Elon Musk Has Children With?

Justine Musk — First Wife, Author, and Primary Custodian of Five Sons

Elon Musk met Canadian author Justine Wilson while both were students at Queen’s University in Ontario. They married in 2000 and had six children together — one of whom, Nevada Alexander, died in infancy in 2002. Their five surviving sons were all born via IVF between 2004 and 2006.

After their divorce in 2008, Justine Musk — who has written candidly about their marriage and its breakdown — has been the primary custodial parent of those five boys. Her Marie Claire essay, published in 2010, remains one of the most detailed firsthand accounts of family life within the Musk household during that period, and it has been cited extensively by journalists covering Musk’s personal life.

Justine Musk has continued writing and speaking publicly about her experiences. Her voice on the subject of life with Elon — both as a partner and as a co-parent — is one of the most direct and substantive on record.

Grimes — Musician, Artist, and Mother of Two (Possibly Three) Children

Elon Musk and musician and artist Grimes (Claire Boucher) went public as a couple at the 2018 Met Gala. Their relationship produced at least two confirmed children — X AE A-XII, born in May 2020, and Exa Dark Sideræl, born via surrogate in December 2021. A third child, Strider, has been reported but not confirmed by either parent.

By 2022, Grimes confirmed to Vanity Fair that she and Musk had separated. She described their co-parenting dynamic as complicated, non-traditional, and emotionally difficult — while making clear that both remain involved in their children’s lives. Grimes has been more open than either Musk or Zilis about the experience of parenting within this unconventional family structure, speaking about it in multiple long-form interviews.

Shivon Zilis — Neuralink Executive and Mother of Musk’s Youngest Known Children

Shivon Zilis is a Canadian executive who leads operations and special projects at Neuralink. She has worked closely with Musk professionally for years, and the existence of their children was confirmed not through a public announcement, but through court filings obtained and published by Reuters and Business Insider in July 2022.

Those filings showed that Musk and Zilis had petitioned to have their twins’ names changed to include the Musk surname — a procedural detail that became the mechanism through which the twins’ existence became public knowledge. Zilis has not given public interviews about her relationship with Musk or their co-parenting arrangement. What is known comes almost entirely from those court documents and subsequent investigative reporting.

What Elon Musk Has Said About Fatherhood and Having a Large Family

Musk’s views on family size are inseparable from his views on civilization. He has repeatedly and publicly stated that population decline is among the greatest existential risks facing humanity — and has framed his own decision to have many children as consistent with that belief.

In his 2021 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Musk said: “I think one of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and the rapidly declining birth rate.” He went on to say that he is “trying to set a good example” through his own family.

His comments on Xavier’s gender transition — made publicly on X — showed a different dimension of his approach to fatherhood: one that generated significant controversy and drew widespread criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates and media commentators. Musk has not elaborated on his relationship with Xavier in any substantive public forum since.

On fatherhood more broadly, Musk has spoken warmly of his children in various interviews, often referencing the time he spends with them and describing parenthood as one of the most meaningful parts of his life — even as his professional commitments have drawn frequent criticism for their demands on his time.

Frequently Asked Questions About Elon Musk’s Children

Emma Clarke

Emma Clarke is a content writer at Gaukurinn.is, specializing in celebrity news, pop culture, movies, and music. With a strong focus on accuracy and trending topics, she creates engaging and well-researched articles that keep readers informed and entertained.
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