# What do you call your mother-in-law? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 8, 2008, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585 "2008-09-08T10:42:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/21 "2008-09-08T14:28:52Z")
I call my MIL by her first name. I like her, quite a bit actually, but she really isn’t a “mother figure” to me at all. Much more “friend-like”. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/22 "2008-09-08T14:30:38Z")
First name. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/23 "2008-09-08T14:31:17Z")
Jesus, things must really be quite in Bagram if this is what you’re worried about. 😉 FTR, I call all 3 of my moms (My mom, my bonus mom and my MIL) “mom”. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/24 "2008-09-08T14:52:58Z")
I call my in-laws by their first names. We have a friendly, but not filial relationship. I can’t imagine calling them Mom and Dad. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/25 "2008-09-08T14:56:32Z")
I call mine “Ma” or by her firstname, depending on mood and circumstance. He does the same for my mom. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/26 "2008-09-08T15:31:18Z")
I call my MIL by her first name or by Meemaw, as her grandchildren do. My DIL calls me Babs, and my SIL avoids the issue and doesn’t use a name at all when addressing me. I’m thinking of bringing up the topic and telling him he can call me anything he likes, except “the Wicked Witch of [town I live in.]” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/27 "2008-09-08T15:36:54Z")
I call her by her first name, Beelzebub. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/28 "2008-09-08T15:38:34Z")
I call her Eve. That’s her name. She’s not my mom, so she’s not “Mom.” I love her a lot, but she ain’t mom. Joe ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/29 "2008-09-08T17:15:40Z")
Right now I call her “that woman in the cemetery.” :o When she was alive, and when I was first married, she wanted me to call her “Mother,” or “Mom,” which I could not do. She did NOT want me to use her first name. I basically avoided the necessity of calling her anything directly, especially as the years went on and what I really wanted to call her was unprintable in polite society. After 9 years when the children came along, I called her “Babushka” a.k.a “Grandmother.” ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/30 "2008-09-08T17:17:42Z")
I don’t call her. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/31 "2008-09-08T17:20:58Z")
When addressing her, sometimes I’ll call her Mom and sometimes by her first name. Away from her, I’ll rarely refer to her as Mom to my wife because I do have a still-alive Mom myself and things might get confusing. To acquaintances, I’ll refer to her as my MIL (since they won’t know her personally, so the first name will be meaning less). ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/32 "2008-09-08T18:19:28Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I call her mom. I asked the others what they call her and that’s what they told me. My family is rather annoyed by it, as they too feel that should be reserved for my mom. Except my mom called her MIL mom, so I don’t get it. My mother calls my grandmother (her MIL), mom too, but she never really has liked my grandmother much, so I think she just did it because she felt it was expected. Honestly, it never really occured to me to use mom for my MIL, and there’s no way I’m doing it now. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/33 "2008-09-08T18:28:38Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Jesus, things must really be quite in Bagram if this is what you’re worried about. 😉 > > FTR, I call all 3 of my moms (My mom, my bonus mom and my MIL) “mom”. Things are decidedly \*not \*quiet in Bagram, but hey, now I can post random questions that pop into my head again, and I’m gonna do it, combat zone or not! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/34 "2008-09-08T18:30:23Z")
> [@nonacetone](#): > > Bitch. > > Really. I do. When we’re civil, I call her by her first name. I have also been known to call mine “that passive-agressive bitch” from time to time, myself. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/35 "2008-09-08T18:35:19Z")
I use her first name. She’s not nearly old enough to be my mother. Plus I had a mother and am not eager to move anyone into her slot. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/36 "2008-09-08T20:11:38Z")
I did my best not to call her anything. I think she would have preferred Mom, but I really couldn’t do that. I already had a mom and I really wasn’t that close to MIL. My husband called my parents by their first names. I think he picked that up from my BIL and from the way they introduced themselves to him. ---
**Author:** ![miamouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@miamouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miamouse)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/37 "2008-09-08T20:36:43Z")
I used to call her mami, but eventually it became clear that she wanted to browbeat me as if she were my mother (not that my mom does that) without actually, you know, treating me like a person. So now she’s called by her first name or ‘your mother’ or grandma. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/38 "2008-09-08T20:55:51Z")
I call both my husband’s mother and step-mother by their first names. I usually try to avoid it though… Was anyone else reminded of this classic exchange from the _Dick Van Dyke Show_? > [@](#): > > Laura Petrie: Millie, what do you call your in-laws? > Miller Helper: Well, when we are together, I usually just call them “Folks.” Like “It’s time for dinner, folks.” > Laura Petrie: What do you do when you’re alone with one of them? > Miller Helper: That’s when I hide in the bathroom. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/39 "2008-09-08T21:13:56Z")
I call them by their first names. What bugs me is, my FIL (technically, the husband of my MIL, since he’s not my wife’s biological father) makes a point of calling me “son” every time he sees me. That’s the greeting. “Hey, _son_.” Stress in original. It’s deeply annoying. My wife and I laugh at both sets of parents, though, because they always call us “the kids.” We remind them, “Um, we’re over 35 now, and we’ve got a baby of our own, are we really still ‘the kids’?” Apparently we are. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585/40 "2008-09-08T21:17:15Z")
Either her first name or Mom. I get along really well with my mother-not-yet-in-law. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-mother-in-law/462585.md?page=3)