YOU’RE KIDDING? A BELGIAN family has reportedly named their 11 children using the same four letters in a different order each time – and plan to do the same with our 12th baby.
Parents Gwenny Blanckaert and Marino Vaneeno, from Belgium, have only used A, E, L and X when choosing what to call their brood of seven girls and five boys. Early this year, the family expected baby number 12 – a boy in April. The family includes 13-year-old Alex, 12-year-old Axel, 11-year-old Xela, 10-year-old Lexa, 9-year-old Xael, 8-year-old Xeal, 5-year-old Exla, 4-year-old Leax, 2-year-old Xale, 1-year-old Elax and 6-month-old Alxe.
The family have named 11 children using the same four letters in different orders and have explained why
Explaining why they chose such a unique way of naming their brood, Gwenny said that they named their oldest son after Marino’s stepfather because they thought it was a beautiful name. The name of their second son became Axel and after that they started puzzling. She later added: “We realized that they were the same letters, so we decided to continue like this. The couple said they were “over the moon” about their new son. The baby’s a boy. That brings the final score to 7-5. Seven girls and five boys.
The couple have said they have no intentions of having any more kids after number 12. Gwenny said: “Right from the start we had set the bar at twelve. And we will stick to that. The four letters reportedly allow for 24 different first names but Gwenny and Marino, 39, said they don’t plan on having any more after that.
When BabyNames.com shared the story on TikTok, people certainly had their opinions on the matter.
“Literally, what’s the difference between Xale, Xeal and Xael?” someone asked.
“They sound like Tesla models,” another joked.
“I honestly think this is kind of cool, and I like the idea,” another said.