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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:
OnGoldenPond · 22/10/2026 23:17

My DSIS went out with a guy who was the youngest of 14 when she was a teenager. All brought up in a 4 bed terrace - each DC had to move out as soon as they turned 16 Confused

CrapADoodleCupcake · 22/10/2026 23:16

My dad is one of 13.

Other than this, a family I grew up near had 9 children. This was many years ago (I’m 63).

Now, the biggest family I know has 7 children…6 girls…then their final was a boy. I guess they really wanted a boy 💖

AnnaQuayRules · 22/10/2026 23:16

Im in East Anglia. I've got two friends who each have 5 children and a few friends with 4. A lot of my friends have 3 but I would say a lot of my friends are quite well off and can afford it.

One of my friends with 5 only planned for 4, but number 4 turned out to be twins.

RubyToDosDay · 22/10/2026 23:14

My SIL has five birthday children plus two step children. Her best friend has seven birthday children and one adopted. My mum was one of seven…

RemakeRemodel · 22/10/2026 23:12

One of my in-laws is one of 11 but in their 50s now. More recently my sister went to school with someone who's also one of 10 who will be early 20s. I know a few people with 3 but no more than that. Both my parents were 1 of 4 though which I always thought was normal for their generation but would seem like loads now, especially with 2-3 year age gaps.

raindroplets75 · 22/10/2026 23:12

My friend has 8.

Both my parents are 1 of 6 children.

we have 5 children ourselves.

VeganStar · 22/10/2026 23:10

when I was a child I was friends with someone who had 21 siblings. She was my age and her brother was my dads age.
quite recently I know someone who has 12 DCs she kept on having DSs. She wanted a DD. She had her DD it was her tenth baby. Everyone thought she would stop but she went on to have two more DSs. Her DH is working so they’re not on benefits but they do have a council house. They had to have a house that was two knocked into one to accommodate them all.
I am one of five and one of my other friends is one of eleven.
I live just outside the Valleys in South Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

knitnerd90 · 22/10/2026 23:10

I used to work in a religious area and knew one mother of 16. I will say that even in that area, there are fewer double digit families than there used to be.

Amongst friends, the most is six, but a pair of surprise twins was involved. A couple with 5, more with 4, but 2-3 is more typical.

HappyViewer · 22/10/2026 23:09

6 and lots of 4’s. Growing up I knew lots of 6 and 7’s and one 9. My parents were both one of six DC and my DH has 4 siblings. I have 28 first cousins!

bridgetreilly · 22/10/2026 23:06

I have a friend who is one of nine, and I have two friends who have seven.

ArabellaScott · 22/10/2026 23:04

12 or 14, can't recall now. When I was a child. They were dirt poor, and mostly not very happy children.

MatronPomfrey · 22/10/2026 22:56

I had a school friend that was 1 of 6 and my children went to school with siblings that were a family of 6 children. I did meet someone that was 1 of 9 but she was from the Middle East.

TheeNotoriousPIG · 22/10/2026 22:55

My grandfather was the youngest of seven.

A family friend's DS and DIL went for a third, partly to fill the last seat in the car... and got twins. Having upgraded to a 7-seater, the dog is firmly put in the seventh seat so that his wife doesn't get any further ideas of having another baby! 😂

Through working in education, I've known students who are one of 6 and 13 (including half-siblings).

railroad · 22/10/2026 22:53

I have three. The vast majority of my friends have two, plus a handful of other ‘3 kids’ families and a few with four (among those are a family who went for a third and got twins!)

My friend’s sister has TEN though! Had her first children very young, and three different dads to all the kids…

Kickinthenostalgia · 22/10/2026 22:52

My cousins mum has 6, four with my uncle and 2 with her current husband.
my grandad is also one of 6.
tbh my dad technically has 5 kids. Me and my brother with my mum and 2 boys and 1 girl with his wife. I’m the oldest and there’s 26 years between me and my little sister.

cornflakecrunchie · 22/10/2026 22:48

I have seven.

mswales · 22/10/2026 22:47

I know someone who's one of six because her mum and dad wanted a third child and then had natural quadruplets

crypticandmachiavellian · 22/10/2026 22:45

I’ve got 4, lots of my friends have 3 or 4 kids. My brother has 4 too. I can’t think of anyone I know now who has more than 5 though

AlecTrevelyan006 · 22/10/2026 22:45

i am one of 5, my dad was one of 10 and mum was one of 9. Not that unusual in Ireland back in the day. When I was growing up in london 70s and 80s I knew lots of families with 3 or 4 kids. My best friend at school was an only child - he was the only, only child that I knew.

things have certainly changed

Cailin66 · 22/10/2026 22:44

My mother had 7 babies, she had around 80 first cousins, her father, my grandfather was one of 14 or 17, I forget how many, but I’ve seen a photograph of them with their mother, one of my aunts has 8, my children, born this century, have one aunt who had 7, my children have 28 first cousins. (We are Irish). The trend now is for minimum of two, often 3 or 4 max, in general. When I went to school you’d have been abnormal to have only 2.

Travelfairy · 22/10/2026 22:43

13, at one stage they had 5 under 3. 2 x sets of twins and a toddler 🙈

MichLBee · 22/10/2026 22:43

I went to school with a lad who was one of 17 (Catholic family). My dad is one of 8 and my best friend's sister had 5 kids by 30.

Notanotherrestructure · 22/10/2026 22:42

6 and all at private school too!

dizzydizzydizzy · 22/10/2026 22:42

I know a couple of families with 5 kids and many with 4. When I was growing up, we knew a family with 13 children.

LabOwner95 · 22/10/2026 22:40

This makes me realise how small my family is! I'm 1 of 2. Both my parents are the same. I only have two cousins.

On the other hand, my husband has so many cousins he can't keep track - about 20+?

We're both early 30s