Ask Lemmy

The only one I know personally has a very bad relationship with her mother, so she intentionally keeps a distance.

I know some do it even if they have a great relationship. It feels weird to me because it’s not the norm. Are they making a statement of some kind?

But basically only parents and grandparents are not called by name here. Uncles and aunts only when you’re young.

I mostly call my moms by their first names. I almost never directly refer to them as "mom." When talking about them to people who know them, I refer to them by their names. Basically only call them my mom to people who don't know my parents.

I'm in the US. But I think part of the reason I do that is having multiple moms. OTOH, they are trying to teach our niece to call them grammy and nana and I know my cousins have a similar way of differentiating their moms.

Stopped using "mom" and "dad" at about the same time as I moved out. Can't really explain exactly why, just seemed like part of growing up amd becoming an independent adult of my own.

/Swede

I call my parents 'Mummy' and 'Daddy' to their face, or 'my mother' and 'my father' to others, unless they specifically ask what their name is. I call my grandmas 'Grandma [name]', and my grandfather by a cultural title. Aunts and uncles I call 'Aunt [name]' to differentiate them. Siblings and cousins I call by their name.

I am from the UK

I've always done that with both my parents, but then again I'm Danish. It's a radically different culture. Families are not seen as particularly inherently important here. It's usually not even a meritocratic assessment of the family as a unit - it's an individual one. You might like some people, you might dislike others. Either way, is has almost nothing to do with whether a blood relation exists or not.

"An asshole's an asshole."

Edit: Along similar philosophical lines, there's no particular veneration of age. Age and wisdom might be proportionally related, but one does not guarantee the other. Some people manage only to grow more foolish with age. Precocious children exist.

I'd be very interested in exploring the differences between cultures more with you, assuming you're willing.

My second son calls his mother and I by our first names and has done since he was 5. None of our other kids do that, it is something he decided to do, and has continued. He is now 16

particularly Americans, apparantly are on first-name basis with parents... like either because they are very close, or very distant...

American here - I've known a couple of people that used their parents' first names, but it's pretty rare. I'm no/low contact with my father, and I've thought of just using his first name because I don't feel like he deserves to be called "dad," but I've called him dad my whole live and I think it would just feel weird to call him by his first name.

My brother does it to my mom specifically in crowds. He picked it as a scout during crowded meetings and it stuck. He’s in his 30s now.

I don't call anyone by their family relation except my grandparents, everyone else (including my parents) gets called by their name. That said this is absolutely not normal where I live and nobody does it other than me and my immediate-ish family. I think it's because I didn't grow up with, say, mom calling dad "dad" or anything of the sort.

/Middle Eastern

I've never called my parents by their first names, and I've never known someone who did.

I called my grandparents "Grandma and Grandpa [Last Name]". But my aunts and uncles were "Aunt [First Name]" and "Uncle [First Name]". I would say that's pretty standard for the USA.

I would often use both the title and the person's nickname, but never just the name. So, for example, "Papa Mike" but not "Mike" or "Michael". It made more sense for grandparents because I had two of each, but I did it for my parents too.

My kiddo calls me by my first name

I've probably done it occasionally, when calling them in a public space shouting 'Daaad' as an adult feels a bit weird. Same with talking about them to a third person, I might use their names rather than say "my mum" the whole time.

But face to face, talking with them? It'd feel pretty weird, too impersonal and distant. If I saw someone else doing it tontjeir parents, I'd probably note it as unusual, but would be shocked.

I have called my dad by his first name almost my whole life.

I had a college friend who did that. Their family seemed pretty chill overall from what I could tell ¯\(ツ)/¯