To honor her husband, a woman from Paraiba, Brazil, gave all her children, nine girls and six boys, his name, Walter. Although they were proud to carry on their father’s name, the girls said it made their lives harder.

When she got pregnant with her first child, Erotides Brandão made a deal with her husband, Walter, to give it his name, regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl. That’s how Walterlúcia ended up with her unique and bizarre name. The mother was happy to honor her life partner, she just didn’t expect to have 15 children and him to ask her to do the same for all of them. Still, Erodites told Brazilian reporters they were very much in love and couldn’t deny each other anything. In order to make life easier for their children, especially the girls, the two parents decided to combine the “Walter” with common girl names followed by Maria. Their nine daughters are named: Walterlúcia Maria, Walterlívia Maria, Walterlênia Maria, Walterlônia Maria, Walterlácia Maria, Walterluzia Maria Emília, Walterluana Maria, Walterangelina Maria and Waltersilvana Maria. Obviously, it was easier for the boys, who were baptized with two first names: Walter Emanuel, Walter Luís, Walter Olivério, Walter Marcelo (who died at six months), Walter Licínio and Walter Fernando. Erodites lost three other pregnancies, who were also going to be named Walter.

Photo: Brandão personal archive

Walter Brandão died in 2003, at the age of 81, but he remains in the hearts of those who loved him most, his family members. One of his sons, Walter Licínio, decided to carry on his wishes and named his two offsprings Walter, as well. His two boys are called Walter Licínio Filho and Walter Yanko. Out of Erodites’ 33 grandchildren, four are also named Walter. Father deserved it, he was a good man,” one of the children told Globo. Walterluzia, who decided to give her kids normal names, said that after hearing her mother’s motives, she came to regret not naming them Walter…

Photo: Krystine Carneiro/Globo

Despite their unconditional love for their father, the nine Brandão sisters say carrying on the Walter name caused a lot of problems for them while growing up and during their adult years. They were the laughingstock of their colleagues and often got into fights because of it. They hated their names, but they couldn’t tell their father, because that would have saddened him. Today, most of them prefer to summarize their names to Lucia or Silvana Brandão.