Why is Elon Musk and his ‘half-Indian’ partner Shivon Zilis’ son’s middle name Sekhar

It’s probably the podcast of the year. Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath interviewed Elon Musk, and we learnt a thing or two more about the world’s richest man. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has an Indian connection. During his nearly two-hour conversation with Kamath on an episode of the podcast series titled People by WTF, Musk revealed that his partner, Shivon Zilis, is half-Indian. And their son’s middle name is Sekhar.       

Who is Shivon Zilis? 

Shivon Zilis, 38, is an executive at Neuralink, a neurotechnology company co-founded by Musk. She currently holds the position of Director of Operations and Special Projects at the firm.   

Zilis was born in Markham, Ontario, to a Punjabi mother and a Canadian father. 

While speaking to USA Today, Zilis said she grew up in Ontario, Canada, but attended college at Yale University, where she studied economics and philosophy.

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She began her career at IBM, where she worked on financial technologies for three years. She later joined Bloomberg Beta, an early-stage venture capital firm, leading investment efforts in data and machine learning. For her work here, she appeared on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in the venture-capital category in 2015, reports Business Insider.

Zillis later transitioned to working in Artificial Intelligence, where she met Musk. In 2016, she joined OpenAI, a non-profit cofounded by a group that included Musk and Sam Altman. Its mission back then was to find ways for AI to benefit humanity. She was the youngest member of OpenAI’s board of directors until she stepped down in March 2023, according to a report in The Information. 

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From 2017 to 2019, Zillis was the project director at Tesla. At the EV firm, she was leading the efforts on autopilot and chip design.

Zillis and Musk have a lot in common. Apart from their interest in AI, the two are fond of video games, especially the fantasy genre.

What do we know about Zillis’ Indian roots? 

On Kamath’s podcast, the Tesla boss revealed a lesser-known fact about his partner Shivon Zilis. Musk asserted, “I do not know if you know that, but my partner Shivon is half Indian." 

Kamath replied, “I did not know that.” 

Kamath then surprisingly asked, “Wow. Very interesting. Did she spend any time in India, Shivon?” 

“No, she grew up in Canada,” Musk replied. He further clarified, saying that her connection to India was ancestral rather than based on upbringing. 

When Kamath asked whether he meant her origins or ancestry, referring to parents or grandparents, Musk responded,  “…I mean, she was given up for adoption when she was a baby. I think her father was like an exchange student at the university or something similar.”

“I am not sure of the exact details, but, you know, it was the kind of thing where, I do not know, she was given up for adoption. Yeah, but she grew up in Canada,” he added.

However, reports say that it was Zillis’ mother who was of Indian-origin.

Why is Musk’s son’s middle name Shekhar? 

While speaking to Kamath, Musk also spoke about one of his sons with Zilis, whose middle name is Sekhar. “You know, one of my sons with her is, middle name is Sekhar, after Nobel laureate Chandra Sekhar.” 

However, this is not the first time Musk has spoken about his son with an Indian name. During his meeting with former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar at the AI Summit in the United Kingdom in 2023, Musk said that his son’s middle name was Chandrasekhar. He was named the famous Indian American physicist and Nobel laureate, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.   

Subsequently, the former Union Minister posted on X, stating, “Look who I bumped into at #AISafetySummit at Bletchley Park, UK. Elon Musk shared that his son with Shivon Zilis has a middle name ‘Chandrasekhar’ - named after 1983 Nobel physicist Prof S Chandrasekhar.” 

To which Zilis responded, “Haha, yes, that’s true.” 

“We call him Sekhar for short, but the name was chosen in honour of our children’s heritage and the amazing Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar,” she added. 

Zilis and Musk secretly welcomed twins, Strider and Azure, in Austin, Texas, in November 2021. The birth of twins was made public eight months later in court, according to Insider. 

Arcadia and Seldon Lycurgus are the other kids Musk has with Zilis. 

How many other children does Musk have? 

It’s no secret that Tesla’s owner has had 14 children with at least four partners. 

Justine Wilson, Elon Musk’s first wife, is a Canadian author. The marriage lasted from 2000 to 2008. Together, they had six children: Griffin, Vivian, Kai, Saxon, Damian, and Nevada (who passed away as an infant). 

After the separation, Wilson even said that she was a “starter wife of Musk”. 

Grimes, the Canadian singer and songwriter, and Musk have three children: X Æ A-Xii, Exa Dark Sideræl, and Techno Mechanicus. Grimes confirmed her split from Elon Musk in March 2022 after about four years together. The relationship ended after a bitter custody battle.

American influencer Ashley St Clair also has a child with Musk, his 13th. In an explosive interview with The Wall Street Journal, she revealed how the world’s richest man uses his influence, wealth, and platform X to recruit women and propose surrogacy as a way to rapidly build a “legion” of children.   

With inputs from agencies