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

428 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:
bamboobam · 23/10/2026 10:08

I know a woman with 10 kids lots of different dads. She is from Gosport in the south too.
I have 4 and my brother has 5 but other than that I don’t know anyone with more.

Edit to add she is in her 50s as are me and my brother now so all children are grown up.

jamdan21 · 23/10/2026 10:08

My niece has 7 children.

ButtercupYellow26 · 23/10/2026 10:15

I had a neighbour who had 7 boys but was desperate for a girl. Number 8 was a boy. Then they moved so I don't know if she had any more.

Packetofcrispsplease · 23/10/2026 17:35

I have 3 and many other families I know have 3 or 4 children.
There was one family at our school who had 5 and another family local to me who had 5 children .

AgeingMillennial · 23/10/2026 17:43

ButtercupYellow26 · 23/10/2026 10:15

I had a neighbour who had 7 boys but was desperate for a girl. Number 8 was a boy. Then they moved so I don't know if she had any more.

Now you’ve said it the majority of the families I know with 5+ have either all boys or all girls and it’s clear they’re trying for the other gender (despite their protests). In some cases they did eventually get the girl/boy and maintain they ‘just wanted exactly 7 kids and it’s a coincidence the last one was the opposite gender to all the others’

Nobody believes them!

Sometimessmiling · 23/10/2026 17:53

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.

13 or 14. Taught most of them.....

Jack80 · 23/10/2026 17:55

My sister in law has 9 children

restingbitchface30 · 23/10/2026 17:58

My partners one of 8. I’m also kind of one of 8(I was adopted by my nana who had 6 before adopting me and my sister). My friends sister has 7 under 12 and isn’t planning on stopping any time soon.

mugglewump · 23/10/2026 18:00

There is a local family whose children went to primary school with mine. They are very religious and part of some Baptist cultish off-shoot. They believe every child is a gift from God. They had 8 children.

TheBewleySisters · 23/10/2026 18:00

I was at school with a girl who had 21 brothers and sisters.

GreensAreGoodForYou · 23/10/2026 18:01

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.

SEVENTEEN! But yeah, totally blew my mind when the dad told me that number. I thought I'd misheard and then didn't really know what to say – I was just gobsmacked. Later I found out that they followed a church that discouraged birth control. Then I met his wife and she did not look like someone who had had 17 kids. They were really lovely people, the older kids helped with the younger kids, they were like a giant family team. (I should add that this was when I lived in the US, not the UK!)

Fiddy1964 · 23/10/2026 18:06

Only know families with 3 children at most, although my mother was 1 of 8 girls and my father was 1 of 18.

Ivalueloyaltyaboveallelse · 23/10/2026 18:08

A neighbour a few doors up has six children, all with different dads. Sorry, but those kids are feral 😂 A friend of a friend has just had her sixth child too, with four different dads. From what my friend says, they’re all very well looked after and loved, though. I only know about her because my friend is pregnant with her first and had a particular name in mind, but she’s now found out that her friend has given her newborn that same name instead. I also met a lovely woman with eight children while working at the hospital.

BattenbergLoves · 23/10/2026 18:08
  1. Eldest is probably early 20’s and youngest maybe 10. And they never drop the ball, all the kids have everything they need, always do the homework / reading, etc. I don’t know how!
Bartonzam · 23/10/2026 18:13

14 in a three bed house before you got a bigger council house just cos you decided to have more kids.

FFSItsTooHot · 23/10/2026 18:15

A friend of my DD had 6 kids. 5 boys followed by a girl.

Hotterthebetter · 23/10/2026 18:17

My mum was one of 13

ExhaustedPigeon · 23/10/2026 18:18

We have a family at school who is pregnant with her 17th.

BobbySox71 · 23/10/2026 18:21

My best friend is one of 14, youngest is now 56. Your typical Irish family who kept everything together and worked hard

hollybee75 · 23/10/2026 18:31

My husband is one of 14.... But his mum was one of 21 - and all single births! I can't even begin to imagine........

ForChucks · 23/10/2026 18:32

My first husband was one of 12 ! My neighbour has 12, just got her first job at 45 ...

AgeingMillennial · 23/10/2026 18:42

GreensAreGoodForYou · 23/10/2026 18:01

SEVENTEEN! But yeah, totally blew my mind when the dad told me that number. I thought I'd misheard and then didn't really know what to say – I was just gobsmacked. Later I found out that they followed a church that discouraged birth control. Then I met his wife and she did not look like someone who had had 17 kids. They were really lovely people, the older kids helped with the younger kids, they were like a giant family team. (I should add that this was when I lived in the US, not the UK!)

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Wow! I often wonder how this is physically possible - she must fall pregnant within a year tops of giving birth basically every time. Or a couple of sets of twins? Sounds like hell to me but I’m still weirdly envious of women who can do it and enjoy it.

Savvysix1984 · 23/10/2026 18:43

My cousin has 7 kids. I’ve worked with a few families with 8 and 9 kids.

GreensAreGoodForYou · 23/10/2026 18:49

AgeingMillennial · 23/10/2026 18:42

Wow! I often wonder how this is physically possible - she must fall pregnant within a year tops of giving birth basically every time. Or a couple of sets of twins? Sounds like hell to me but I’m still weirdly envious of women who can do it and enjoy it.

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Yeah, I had one kid at the time and just couldn’t fathom even having two or three let alone that many! I figured that her body was so experienced that by #9 or #10 it probably felt more normal to be pregnant than not be! They seem to be doing just fine still, amazing.

CMOTDibbler · 23/10/2026 18:51

We have a friend who is one of ten. Although he has 24 nieces and nephews (and now a few great niblings), the most any of them have is 4 children which maybe says something about their experience.
I was also at school with someone who was the youngest of 10 - the oldest was a girl, then 8 boys, and my school friend was adopted. There was a huge age gap between them all