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Original poster

Highest number children you know someone to have in real life?

429 replies

Newsenmum · 22/10/2026 20:10

People talk about these crazy massive families that exist on news but what is the largest family you know? Im from quite a middle class area down south. Most families I know have one or two kids, sometimes three. I have one friend pregnant with her fourth and know one school mum with five! Very unusual though.

OP posts:
LadyGAgain · 24/10/2026 00:00

Dad was one of 10. There are 25 grand children (1 am one of them). There are 24 great grand children. And of course there are spouses so it’s a big family. I’m proud of my family. Not because it’s big but because there’s a lot of love and family values.

Minasama · 23/10/2026 23:58

ThatRedFish · 23/10/2026 07:26

I know someone who has just had her 6th, her oldest will be 12 soon. 3 different dads.

That is a more complicated life than I could manage!

Minasama · 23/10/2026 23:54

I had a colleague (Irish) who was one of 10. She said her mum was amazing - still slim and young looking.
My mum has a friend who is one of 11 and her partner is one of 11 as well! They are about 80 years old.
My grandma was one of 6, she was born just over 100 years ago.

RaraRachael · 23/10/2026 23:46

There was a family of 16 at school with my kids.

Timeforachange26 · 23/10/2026 23:35

6 kids of the friends of ds family Aged between 22 and 11

My aunt had 9

ToadRage · 23/10/2026 23:14

Can't say I really knew them cos the majority were dead by the time I became a part of this family but my husbands Grandfather was one or 13. No one in my family had so many children. I knew a girl at school who was one of 12, i knew one if her older sister and brother.

Ketzele · 23/10/2026 23:09

My mum is the eldest of 11 and my father one of 7. My gran (still living) has 50 descendants. My dd's friend in primary school was one of 13. My dd's dad is one of 9. All of these families very short of money and space.

BlackBeltInOrigami · 23/10/2026 22:54

A girl who was in my year at school has 12 kids!

ImmortalNowBabyDoll · 23/10/2026 22:28

Oh and I forgot to mention - my mum's aunt had 14. I never met her though

JJWT · 23/10/2026 22:26

I have 5, my friend has 6. At my child's primary there was a mum on pregnancy no 7.

curious79 · 23/10/2026 21:40

I know two families with 9 kids each. Not blended, original bio parents. V happy

Dawnb19 · 23/10/2026 21:39

There a woman who's child is in my daughters class and she has 5 kids. Another friend has 4 but everyone else only has 2 maximum. I certainly wouldn't have the money, space or time for a third.

Feejoah · 23/10/2026 21:29

When I was at primary school in the 80s, there was a (Catholic) family of 16 kids who lived around the corner. They had 16 kids in 20 years, and also fostered. They lived in a 5 bedroom house. Some of the teenage girls used to babysit us. I grew up in a lower socioeconomic area in NZ.

Currently, the largest families I personally know have 5 kids (rural NZ town).

DontLiveByTheClouds · 23/10/2026 21:26

One friend has seven and another friend has four. I have three.

Twinmama2026 · 23/10/2026 21:24

My mother in law who has 10, 5 boys and five girls 🤣🤣

SchoolMum66 · 23/10/2026 21:13

I have an Irish friend (mid 50s) who is the eldest of 8. When she first told me and I said "wow", she said "Oh no that's nothing, we were considered one of the smaller families. The 'normal' families had about 12. If you had 16 that was considered 'big'". She's from a small town in Co Cork.

DilemmaDelilah · 23/10/2026 20:58

I went to school with a girl who had 7 brothers, and my son in law has 7 siblings. So 8 is the highest number I have come across in real life.

ImmortalNowBabyDoll · 23/10/2026 20:45

There's a family up the road- he had two, she had two, they got together and decided to have an "ours baby" and had twins. So now there's 6. Plus 3 cousins who periodically move in because their mum can't manage them.

I also once had a TA who had a blended family of 9 children. And another person who wasn't really a friend who had 5 kids, and the whole family live off disability benefits. She'll openly tell you she had them to get more benefits.

SkinnyOatFlatWhiteForMePleaseBarista · 23/10/2026 20:42

DC goes to school with a child who is the youngest of nine. Very middle class, both parents professionals and no family help nearby.

sgtmajormum · 23/10/2026 20:37

Home counties, most people i know have 2 or 3 kids, one has 4

Rockpunkdisco · 23/10/2026 20:33

To background my answer, I have friends and students from different cultures and walks of life. This is just from my own personal experience;

White middle class have between 1 and 3, mostly 2.

White poverty areas 3 to 6.

African friends, 1 to 5.

Asian friends 3 to 7.

Eastern European 1 to 3.

East Asian is 1 or 2.

Of course this is general, as I said my own experience, my own friends and those I teach.

ThisWiseRobin · 23/10/2026 20:33

Worked with a bloke. One of 17.
Afrikaner farmers. In those days every child added acreage of free land from the government.

ThistleTits · 23/10/2026 20:33

@Newsenmum I know someone with 9. A bit younger than me. The previous highest at a similar age to me was 6.

Thisusernameisalwaysavailable · 23/10/2026 20:31

9 kids, 8 girls, 1 boy.

Ittybittyspid · 23/10/2026 20:30

My Mum is one of 11. One of her brothers has 7 kids. Most of her siblings settled at 4 and below though. I think I have about 45 cousins, not close to many of them though.

In terms of people my own age, I’m not friends with anyone who has more than 4. 2 seems to be the magic number in my friend group.

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