# What to call parents **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682 "2005-10-18T00:07:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/1 "2005-10-18T00:07:16Z")
Are there any societies in the world today whereby a person would address their own parents by their parents’ first names? I’ve always addressed my own parents as mom and dad, and for me to use their first names in speaking to them would be quite awkward. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/2 "2005-10-18T00:41:51Z")
> [@rippingtons\_fan](#): > > Are there any societies in the world today whereby a person would address their own parents by their parents’ first names? > I’ve always addressed my own parents as mom and dad, and for me to use their first names in speaking to them would be quite awkward. Heh, I can’t imagine talking to my dad by his first name, it would seem preposterously presumptuous of me. That said, I normally address him by a nickname I’ve given him: “Padre” (It’s a pun, you see, cause he’s my dad, and “Padre” is Spanish for Dad, but it’s also Spanish for Father as in a priest, and my dad’s Jewish, and uhm… OK I’ll just be quiet now. :rolleyes: ) ---
**Author:** ![Kiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/3 "2005-10-18T01:28:09Z")
One of my brothers actually does address our parents by their first names. We had a rather dysfunctional family when we were growing up, and after my brother finished college, he basically decided he didn’t need parents anymore at all. He actually did completely stop communicating with both of them for several years, but has since started talking to and visiting our mother (on rare occasions). I doubt he’s talked to our father in more than a decade, though. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/4 "2005-10-18T01:37:28Z")
I sometimes call my parents by their first names. They’re Mom and Dad to me _most_ of the time, though. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/5 "2005-10-18T01:51:13Z")
I’ve called my parents by their first name since i was little. Same with one set of grandparents. Couldn’t imagnine ever using a title with them. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/6 "2005-10-18T01:54:21Z")
Oops, that was of no help at all. I didn’t notice that this was GQ. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/7 "2005-10-18T02:11:42Z")
I’m no expert here, but I would think that before I could answer your question, I’d need to know the general rules w.r.t. casual and formal names in that culture. E.g., a friend of mine is a Chinese-American immigrant. The name he (and his siblings) use as their surname is Ng (pronounced “Ing”). But when I met his father, he introduced him to me as ‘Father Kwan’. This seems to me to be like introducing you to my late father (legal name “Jimmy J. Shakespeare”) as “Father Jimmy”. This would seem _way_ too casual to me (not to mention making him sound like a priest). I would have simply said, “This is my father”. FWIW, I never called my parents by their first names. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/8 "2005-10-18T05:59:41Z")
I have some cousins who have always called their parents by their first names. But they had an unusual family background, which may have played a role. Both of them had been forcibly separated from their parents by the Communists in Eastern Europe while still young children for several years, and lived with other relatives. It’s a long story. Ed ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/9 "2005-10-18T15:04:55Z")
Mom & Dad are Mom & Dad. I refer to them, when talking to the Butlerette (still too young to know what I’m talking about though) as Nana & Grampy. When discussing with my wife, it’s “_My Mother_, or _My Father_” {italicized to imply tone} The in-laws are “Al & Rachael” or “Memere & Pepe” {probably mispelling the french there} or “Your Mum & Your Dad” {note, no italics} I might call my Mother by her first name in public, to get her attention, but that’s the exception to the rule. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/10 "2005-10-18T15:17:29Z")
I think it was more common during the “hippie” 60’s to refer to one’s parents by their first names. I have a friend who was born then, and he calls his mother by her first name, while younger siblings call her Mom. It’s weird to hear the difference when visiting their home. ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/11 "2005-10-18T18:37:03Z")
My mom has always been “mom” or “ma.” Only very recently have my aunt’s and uncles lost their honorifics. I used to call dad “richard” quite often, mostly due tto the fact that I was a boy scout, and calling dad invariably got the wrong one’s attention. I still use his name to get his attention, then usually revert to “dad” while I’m talking to him. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/12 "2005-10-19T12:11:00Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > I think it was more common during the “hippie” 60’s to refer to one’s parents by their first names. I have a friend who was born then, and he calls his mother by her first name, while younger siblings call her Mom. It’s weird to hear the difference when visiting their home. I’d second this reasoning - my three brothers and I have always called our parents by their first names, and they are, or have been hippy-types, the logic being to avoid some sort of domestic authoritarian hierarchy, putting equality in its place…silly really… ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/13 "2005-10-19T14:10:20Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#): > > I’d second this reasoning - my three brothers and I have always called our parents by their first names, and they are, or have been hippy-types, the logic being to avoid some sort of domestic authoritarian hierarchy, putting equality in its place…silly really… I’ll third this. I went to a Quaker college with many hippy-types (usually referred to on-campus as “granolas”). Two of the professors were married and their daughter called them by their first names. I got the impression this was avoidance of, as **Staggerlee** put it, “domestic authoritarian hierarchy.” ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/14 "2005-10-19T15:50:19Z")
(semi-hijack) In the manga _Ah! Megamisama!_, Keiichi’s parents have their kids address them by their first names, because they feel that “Mom” and “Dad” are too impersonal. Then again, the Morisato parents are _really_ weird. (/semi-hijack) ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/15 "2005-10-19T20:50:51Z")
My daughter noticed pretty early that “Mummy” referred to “Daddy” as “Ross”. So she began calling me Ross pretty soon. To be honest I think the only thing that keeps “Daddy” in there at all is the fact that I correct her every single time she calls me “Ross”. But it would appear that that’s how she thinks of me. And Mummy turns into “Michelle” pretty easily too, though not as easily as I become Ross. I swear we did absolutely nothing to encourage this. As a matter of fact sometimes she just calls me “Mummy”. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-parents/326682/16 "2005-10-19T21:03:36Z")
A friend of the family runs a day-care center out of her home. Her children have grown up calling her by her first name because, of course, everyone _else_ calls her that. It put me off the first time I heard her three-year-old address her by her first name.