Developing language skills requires time. Human babies begin making cooing and gurgling sounds around 3 months old. However, it takes some more time before meaningful words come from their mouth.
Most babies say their first meaningful word sometime around 12 months of age. By the age of 2 years, most kids begin to construct two-word phrases, and in another year, they usually have a moderately large vocabulary to describe everything around them.
This is considered a standard timeline but may differ from one baby to another as human development is complex. Some babies begin to talk early, while others take more time.
Here we talk about 5 youngest babies who talked earlier than most others. This list contains the name of only those babies who made the news for talking early. This happens only when the parents record their babies talking at an early age and post it on social media. As you can imagine, it happened only during the last decade when social media became a part of our life. Also, most parents do not bother to record their children even when they speak early.
Thus, it is an unofficial list sourced from various new reports. In this list, we also included the names of two child prodigies who later claimed they began talking earlier than usual.
Other child prodigies may have talked even earlier, but the information is unavailable in the public domain.
5. Kim Ung-Yong
Age when began talking: 6 months
Country: South Korea
Current age: 61 years
photo source: wikipedia.org
Kim Ung-Yong is a former child prodigy born in Seol, South Korea. Reportedly, Ung-Yong began constructing meaningful phrases when he was six months old. By the age of one year, Ung-Yong had learned the Korean alphabet, as well as 1000 Chinese characters.
He published his best-selling book of essays in English and German when he was only three years old. He was also able to solve calculus problems at that young age. He mastered five languages: Korean, English, German, French, and Japanese by the age of five.
Ung-Yong was named in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest IQ, at 210. Now, he is a full-time professor at Shinhan University.
Did you know?
Media often called Ung-Yong a failed genius. However, he refused to accept this label and said, “I consider my life a success ― there aren’t many people who do what they really want to do, but I do. That is what you call success; what else do you call a happy life?”
4. Michael Kevin Kearney
Age when began talking: before 4 months
Country: USA
Current age: 38 years
photo source: www.businessinsider.in
Michael Kevin Kearney is another child prodigy. It is unclear when he uttered the first word, but reportedly he could ask his parents, “what’s for dinner?” At the age of 4 months. Kearney learned to read when he was 8 months. Currently, he works as a teaching assistant at Middle Tennessee State University.
Kearney is listed in the Guinness Book of World records as the youngest university graduate. He completed his bachelor’s degree in anthropology at the age of 10. Initially, he was home-schooled by his mother.
At age 6, he graduated from high school and was enrolled in Santa Rosa Junior College. Here, obtained an Associate of Science in Geology at age 8. He began teaching college students when he was 16 years old. At the age of 22, Kearney completed his Ph.D. in chemistry. He is also known for winning over 1 million dollars in game shows.
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Kearney was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age. However, his parents refused to give him the prescribed medicine. Instead, they put in their best effort so Kearney could adjust well to the surroundings.
3. Charlie-John Taylor-Mullington
Age when began talking: 8 weeks
Country: England
Current age: 2+ years
photo source: i2-prod.mirror.co.uk
In August 2020, the British media declared Charlie-John Taylor-Mullington the world’s youngest talking baby. Charlie’s parents shot a video where he was seen saying “hello” in response to his father’s greetings. At the time of taking the video, Charlie was aged only 8 weeks. The video soon went viral, and the media took up the story.
Charlie’s mother, Caroline, 37, and his father, Nick, 36, suddenly discovered that he replied to their greetings with a hello. Caroline promptly took out her phone to capture the video of Charlie repeatedly saying “hello” to his father.
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Later, Charlie and his parents appeared on the TV show This Morning. However, he slept through the interview and remained silent the whole time. His mother told the disappointed audience that Charlie’s saying hello was a one-off.
2. Haisley Rae Allens
Age when began talking: 8 weeks
Country: USA
Current age: 1+ years
photo source: www.gannett-cdn.com
The video of Haisley Rae Allens went viral, where she was recorded uttering her first word, “I love you.” At the time of the recording of the video, she was 8 weeks old.
Haisley was born in Lexington, South Carolina, in December 2021. In February 2022, her parents, Breanna Brensinger, 19, and Jake Allen, 21, posted a video of her saying, “I love you.” Although she probably mimicked the sound without understanding the meaning, experts believed it to be exceptional.
Her mother later said to the press that Haisley was playing with her mom and grandmom three days before the video. At that time, her mother noticed that she was sounding out words. Haisley’s father was in disbelief until the video was taken.
As the video went viral, it was highlighted in major media outlets in the US, including CNN’s Full Circle with Anderson Cooper.
1. Cillian McCann
Age when began talking: 7 weeks
Country: Ireland
Current age: 7+ years
photo source: m.lovethispic.com
As in the other cases, the video was loved by thousands of viewers. The news hit the media headlines, and Toni and her husband Paul appeared on various American TV shows. However, the story of Cillian had a tragic end, as two years later, Toni McCann revealed that Cillian had autism and was non-verbal.
