A BELGIAN family who were trolled after naming their 11 children using the same four letters in a different order each time insist they will do the same with their 12th child.
Gwenny Blanckaert and Marino Vaneeno’s kids all share names that only have the letters A, E, L, and X in them.
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Their eldest, 13, is called Alex and then there’s Axel, 12, Xela, 11, Lexa, 10, Xael, 9, Xeal, 8, Exla, 5, Leax, 4, Xale, 2, Elax, 1, and six-month-old Alxe.
The family of seven girls and four boys also expect to keep up the same tradition with baby number 12 – a boy – later this year.
Their bizarre decision attracted a number of comments from trolls on Facebook, with many questioning how the various combinations of letters were pronounced.
“I bet Alex is grateful he was firstborn,” one user wrote.
“Jeez my parents found it hard enough to remember my name when I was being told off, let alone remembering these variations,” a second added.
A third said: “So basically they made up a load of words and called it their kids!”
“When you’re trying to get a high score on The Sun’s daily anagram puzzle,” a fourth joked.
However, others came to the families’ defence.
“Beautiful children, the main thing is they’re loved and cared for,” one person commented. “It’s a hard life though caring for so many children.”
Gwenny and Marino said in 2019 that they planned to have more kids after giving birth to their ninth, who they named Xale, HLN reported.
Explaining why they chose such a unique way of naming their brood, Gwenny said: “We named our oldest son after Marino’s stepfather because we thought it was a beautiful name.
“The name of our second son became Axel and after that, we started puzzling.”
Beautiful children, the main thing is they’re loved and cared for
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She later added: “We realized that they were the same letters, so we decided to continue like this.”
In an interview with Dutch media, the couple said they were “over the moon” about their new son.
Gwynne said: “It will be a boy. That will bring 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 day that we sit around the table with twelve children, our family is complete.”
Last year, Gwenny shared a scan of her unborn son on Facebook.
According to Oddity Central, the four letters allow for 24 different first names, meaning Gwenny and Marino still have 13 further variations to choose from.
The couple still have some way to go to catch up with Britain’s biggest family.
Boasting 22 kids, the Radfords from Morecambe, Lancashire, famously don’t rely on benefits.
However, having such an impressive brood can pose its own problems, such as when the couple took their children to Alton Towers and nearly forgot one.
