The 27 most unusual rock star baby names, from Audio Science to Zuma

As Grimes reveals her daughter’s full name to be Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, Kevin E G Perry looks at the long history of famous musicians giving their children unique names

Elon Musk and Grimes arrive for the 2018 Met Gala (AFP via Getty Images)

Given that electronic maverick Grimes and her on-off boyfriend Elon Musk named their first child X AE A-Xii in 2020, it should come as no surprise that their second has an equally unusual moniker. They were hardly likely to call her Monica.

In fact, Grimes - who was born as the somewhat more conventionally-named Claire Elise Boucher - has revealed that her daughter’s name is Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, or ‘Y’ for short. In a recent Vanity Fair interview, she also explained that the couple rarely uses either name, preferring the nickname “Sailor Mars”.

Of course, musicians giving their children unusual or out-there names is nothing new. Here are 27 memorable names that music’s most creative minds have dreamed up for their offspring.

1. Audio Science

Actor Shannyn Sossamon, who starred in 2001’s A Knight’s Tale opposite Heath Ledger, is also an accomplished musician who sang and played drums in indie rock favourites Warpaint from 2004 to 2008. She and boyfriend Dallas Clayton named their son Audio Science, with Sossamon commenting: “We wanted a word not a name, so my boyfriend read through the dictionary three or four times. We were going to call him Science, but thought it might get shortened to Sci, as in Simon.”

2. Apple 

When Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and actor Gwyneth Paltrow had a daughter in 2004, they named her Apple. Paltrow gave Martin credit for the idea, telling Oprah Winfrey that year: “When we were first pregnant, her daddy said, ‘If it’s a girl I think her name should be Apple.’ It sounded so sweet, and it conjured such a lovely picture for me, you know. Apples are so sweet and they’re wholesome and it’s biblical.”

Gwyneth Paltrow and daughter Apple watching Coldplay perform at Live 8 in 2005 (MJ Kim/Getty Images)

3. Axl Jack

The son of Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie and actor Josh Duhamel was named after Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose - specifically a dream Fergie had about him. “I had this dream and I was in the audience at this festival,” she told Ellen. “It was outdoors and it was all grimy and nobody knew who I was. On stage singing was Jim Morrison and then came Bob Marley and then Axl Rose. I was in heaven in this dream and I’m dancing and just getting into the music. It was really beautiful and I woke Josh up and I said, ‘Honey, honey, honey, he kicked me. He finally kicked me.’”

4. Bear

The son of One Direction’s Liam Payne and former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl earned his name shortly after he was born. Payne told James Corden that as a young infant he growled in his sleep - causing panic at the hospital. “He was going ‘grrr’, growling away when he was sleeping, so I had specialists running in and out of the hospital while my missus was asleep and he was being checked over, and they were like, ‘Oh, I’m not really sure, we’ll get someone else in’,” said Payne. “I had like, ten doctors coming in the room and in the end, one guy was like, ‘Dude I’m not being funny, there’s nothing wrong with him – just likes to make a lot of noise.’ And that’s carried on ever since – so he just became Bear."

5. Bluebell Madonna

Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell named her daughter, who was born in 2006, by combining a flower and a pop icon. “What really clinched it for me was my mother telling me that the bluebell is increasingly rare – so it’s a precious flower, which seems just right for my daughter,” Halliwell told Hello!. “As she came out of my tummy, Bluebell had both arms flung wide in the air as if announcing to the world, ‘Hi! I’m here!’ She was screaming her head off, as though she was shouting, ‘Hello, Wembley!’ No one else has that name, apart from the Virgin Madonna and the singer, whom I love.”

6. Blue Ivy

The daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z was never destined to live a conventional life. Her name, Blue Ivy, is thought to have been inspired by the Roman numerals ‘IV’, meaning ‘4’, a significant number for Beyoncé and the title of her 2011 album.

Jay Z and daughter Blue Ivy Carter attending the 66th NBA All-Star Game in 2001 (Getty Images)

7. Cosimo

Alt-rocker Beck and his ex-wife Marissa Ribisi named their son Cosimo, the Italian word for “universe”.

8. Daisy Dove Bloom

Last year, Katy Perry told Jimmy Kimmel how she and partner Orlando Bloom dreamed up the name for their daughter. “Daisy, to me, means pure, like purity. And Dove means peace, and Bloom kind of feels like it means joy, so, pure, peace and joy,” said Perry.

9 & 10. Denim and Diezel

R&B singer Toni Braxton’s twin sons are named Denim and Diezel, although that wasn’t her original plan. “My son Denim, it was supposed to be spelled ‘D-e-n-h-a-m’, like ‘Oldham’, but when we were in the hospital, in Atlanta, the nurse said ‘how’s little baby Den-ham?’ So we started spelling it like the jean,” she told OK!. “I changed it to the jean. Some people say it’s French, and some people say it’s English. Diesel – my husband is half German, so Diesel is after, what is it, Rudolph Diesel, who did the Diesel engine? Diesel is a German name.”

Diezel Ky Braxton-Lewis, Toni Braxton, and Denim Cole Braxton-Lewis attending the 2017 Soul Train Awards (Getty Images for BET)

11. Elsie Otter

Actor and She & Him musician Zooey Deschanel and her husband Jacob Pechenik named their daughter Elsie Otter - a deliberate pun on “sea otter”.

12. Heiress Harris

Rapper TI, himself born Clifford Harris, has a daughter named Heiress Harris, which should at least make any future inheritance claims pretty straightforward.

13. Lazer

Having found huge success after naming his group Major Lazer, DJ and producer Diplo decided to stick with what worked and also named his son Lazer.

14. Lyra Antarctica

In 2019, Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn visited Antarctica together, the only continent he’d never toured. When their daughter was born the following year, they named her after it. “I realise some people think it’s quite a strange name,” Sheeran told Lorraine. “But my wife’s called Cherry, and she is the only Cherry that I’ve ever met and I think that she’s the only Cherry that she’s ever met and I quite like that.”

15 & 16. Moroccan and Monroe

The twin sons of singer Mariah Carey and actor Nick Cannon are named Moroccan and Monroe. The latter is named after Marilyn Monroe, a hero of Carey’s, while Moroccan takes his name from the Moroccan-themed New York apartment where Cannon proposed.

17, 18, 19 & 20. Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva

It may have been experimental Seventies icon Frank Zappa and his wife Gail who kickstarted the trend for musicians with unusual baby names when they named their brood Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva.

21. North West

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s first child together was named North West, although they dropped the compass-point inspiration by the time second child Saint was born.

Kim Kardashian and North West in 2017 (Getty Images)

22, 23 & 24. Seven, Puma and Mars

Singer Erykah Badu’s three children all have exquisitely idiosyncratic names: Her son is Seven Sirius and her two daughters are named Puma Sabti and Mars Merkaba.

25. Usher

R&B singer Usher may well be the most famous Usher in the world, but he’s certainly not the first. Usher’s full name is Usher Raymond IV, so it won’t surprise you to learn his dad’s name was Usher Raymond III, and he has a son called Usher Raymond V.

26. Zowie Bowie

David Bowie and ex-wife Angie gave their son the wonderful name Zowie Bowie. Zowie later changed his name to Duncan and took his dad’s birth surname Jones. Today he’s the acclaimed director of films like 2009’s Moon and 2011’s Source Code.

Duncan Jones and David Bowie at the premiere of ‘Moon’ in 2009. (Rex Features)

27. Zuma Nesta Rock

The name of No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani and Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale’s son is thought to have been inspired by Zuma Beach in Malibu (which also inspired the name of a 1975 Neil Young album); Nesta, which was Bob Marley’s birth name, and Rock, perhaps a nod to No Doubt’s 2001 record Rock Steady.