Elon Musk: who is Tesla chief’s trans daughter, why is she changing name - and how many children does he have?

The eldest daughter of Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and the founder of SpaceX, has officially filed to have her name changed, removing Musk from her name as she does not wish to be related to her biological father “in any way, shape or form”.

Musk’s daughter recently turned 18, which is how old you have to be in California to file for a change of name.

Taking to Twitter, Justine Wilson, Musk’s ex-wife and mother of his first daughter, said that she was “proud” of her daughter.

Who is Elon Musk’s daughter - why is she changing her name?

Musk’s daughter from his first marriage with wife Justine Wilson has filed a petition to change her name, stating that she does not “wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form”.

His daughter, who is transgender, also filed a request for a new birth certificate to reflect her identity as a trans woman at the Los Angeles County superior court in Santa Monica in April.

While her new name was redacted in the online document, a TMZ report has stated that she intends to take her mother’s maiden name, Wilson, in place of Musk.

A hearing on the name change is set to begin on Friday (24 June).

There has been no explanation on the rift between Musk and his daughter, however, a month prior to the petition being filed in court, the Tesla and SpaceX chief declared his support for the Republican party, which has repeatedly endorsed a number of legislations that infringe on the rights of transgender individuals across the US.

On two separate occasions in 2020, Musk also tweeted that “pronouns suck” and that: “I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an aesthetic nightmare.”

On Twitter, Wilson wrote: “ “I had a weird childhood,” my 18 year old said to me. “I can’t believe I’m as normal-seeing as I am.” I said, “I’m very proud of you.” “I’m proud of myself!””

How many children does Elon Musk have?

Musk has had eight children altogether.

He met his first wife, Justine Wilson, whilst they were both attending Queen’s University and they got married in 2000.

They welcomed their first child, Nevada, into the world in 2002, but unfortunately he passed away at just 10 weeks old from sudden infant death syndrome.

Following the death of Nevada, Musk and Wilson decided to continue their family through the use of IVF.

In a 2010 essay for Marie Claire, Wilson wrote: “I buried my feelings instead, coping with Nevada’s death by making my first visit to an IVF clinic less than two months later.

“Elon and I planned to get pregnant again as swiftly as possible. Within the next five years, I gave birth to twins, then triples, and I sold three novels to Penguin and Simon & Schuester.”

In 2004, Musk and Wilson had twins, quickly followed by triplets in 2006.

After Musk and Wilson divorced in 2008, they continued to share custody of their children.

Musk then went on to have two children with Canadian musician Grimes after it was revealed that they were dating in 2018.

Grimes gave birth to their first son in May 2020, with the highly unusual name X Æ A-Xii, although the couple have said that they call him X for short.

The two then welcomed their daughter into the world via surrogate in December 2021.

In true Musk and Grimes fashion, their daughter also enjoys an equally usual name - Exa Dark Sideræl, although she is called Y for short.

The news of Musk and Grimes’ daughter came as something of a surprise, as it had been confirmed by Musk himself in December 2021 that they had broken up.

In an interview with Vanity Fair in March 2022, Grimes said that they were back together in their own way.

She said: “I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we’re very fluid. We live in separate houses. We’re best friends. We see each other all the time.

“We just have our own thing going on, and I don’t expect other people to understand it.”

She added that their relationship is “the best it’s ever been” and that they are planning on having more children together in the future.

“We’ve always wanted at least three or four [children],” she said.

However, that same month, Grimes tweeted that she and Musk had broken up - again - following the publication of the article.

She wrote: “Me and E have broken up *again* since the writing of this article haha, but he’s my best friend and the love of my life, and my life and art are forever dedicated to The Mission now.”