Did you grow up calling your parents by their first names?

I know someone who calls her mother by her first name. For the mother it's 100% a vanity thing. She gets off on being mistaken for her daughter's sister. It's one of her main topics of conversation.

The thing is - they are clearly related, they look so similar. And when the younger one calls the older one by the first name, it's a fairly natural assumption, despite the age difference. You should see her face when she gets asked if she is my friends aunt, which happens more often than she'd like. Funnily enough, she never mentions that 😆

Never, it was and still is mum and dad and I'm in my 50s now.

My brother when he was a pain in the arse teen tried it with my dad. It only happened once.

Ours (17 and 22) call us mum and dad.

Born in 94 and used First names for both of my parents since I was early primary age, I clocked onto the fact that others called them by their Christian names and thought why would I call them any different to that?
They weren't bothered, my mums parents were hugely bothered though. If my son was to call me by my first name it would feel a little odd I must admit.

It did have the consequence of people thinking I was adopted but my mum also said that if I ever rang her (as a teen) and said "hi mum" she would know something was up as this would be out of character for me!

My DC does. They started when they were 3 calling my DH by his name which upset him but they said it’s his name and they liked it and it was cute. They call us both by our names, or actually my nickname now. Doesn’t bother us in the slightest - did we want or encourage it? No. But do we accept and respect that they want to use our names? Yes - although we still refer to each other as mum and dad weirdly (like go ask your dad, mum wants you etc) It works for our family but does occasionally raise eyebrows and horrified gasps from others sometimes who would never let their child be ‘so disrespectful’ (true story!)

I was only “auntie Lorelei” when my nieces and nephews were toddlers and I don’t call my aunt and uncle “auntie/uncle name” - never have.

I had a friend at my (state) primary school who called her parents by their first names. She and her siblings had very ‘out there’ middle class names for the early 80s. I think they were musical and artsy too. My DM also found it affected as I recall!

Always reminds me David and Gail Platt off Corrie!

I became an aunt in my teens and insisted on my first name only as felt "Aunty ..." made me sound very old! That has stuck now I'm much older.

I did - with my father by his first name all my siblings did - just a thing we were brought up with - they did divorce when I was 7 -

I agree with your mum. I'd be eternally grateful rolling at it had I come across it. Plus you are denying your child having a "mum" and/or "dad". These are important titles.

My cousins called their parents by their names from a very young age. In fact I don't recall ever hearing them say mum or dad. Always found it every odd.

Our next door but one neighbours children did this. My parents thought it was terrible.

No.

Though it was mum and dad, not mother and father. In part because saying 'father' is a greeting to a Roman Catholic priest.

My siblings and I went from mummy/daddy to their first names. No idea why. No mum/dad stage. Not sure what age - primary school age, maybe?

I like being mum to my own teen dc. My parents obvs never bothered by it. None of us have ever known how or why it happened that way.

It added an air of mystery to me at school, and a bit of speculation about my relationship to them both. Nowadays, I take them to medical appointments etc and I often need to clarify that I’m their daughter.

I call my Dad, Dad when I'm referring to him but call him by his first name when talking to him/shouting him and always have done. My mum would kill me if I called her by her first name.

DS1 only calls me by my first name. I don't think he's called me Mum since he was about 5 and he refers to me as my shortened name to everyone too, I find it quite affectionate really. DS2 & DD call me Mum. Never thought about it but it is weird!

My parents insisted on it, I always felt it was to distance them from us. They weren’t very warm or loving and other parents commented on it.
My children call me mum and I love it. We hug all the time and I will often find the younger one in my bed when I wake up. I wasn’t even allowed in my parent’s room. It’s a massive privilege to be a mum and i feel lucky to have them.

Weirdly(?) we never called our parents mum and dad growing up...it was always by their first names. It started with my older brothers when they were little and then I picked it up from there. The idea of addressing my dad by anything other than his first name growing up would have been so strange. We werent anything hippyish or anything. Fairly normal, unemotional types!

Insist on DD calling me mum now though!

No, I never did and would be so upset if my son called me by my name.

My 3 year old niece is going through a phase of this and it's funny and silly

Only my dad and only when he’s snoring. He has long been relegated to the spare room due to horrendous snoring, so it meant my Mam got a good night sleep and we shared a wall.

That meant that when he was really deep and didn’t stop for a single moment with the snoring and I just couldn’t drop off I used to have to shout at him to wake up.

Only yelling dad only works if I should terrify and that also woke up Mam not something she was pleased about, so the only thing that works is his full Sunday name in a low angry voice…. He always wakes up going “Mam what” apparently when I use his full name in that tone I should just like my nana when he wasn’t sure if he would live to see the next day!

My nana has been gone for just over a decade but he still does it if I have to wake him up when I visit!

My four year old calls me mama, mummy, mum and also by my first name ! Same for her dad, we don't care but I remember when I was a child thinking it was wild to hear children calling their parents by their names 🤣

Same here but dc only calls his dad and grandparents by their first names. I still get mummy most of the time. His dad hates it and asks him to call him daddy and he will for a while, then reverts to his first name. No idea why!

My parents fostered and so we got used to calling them by their real names. Even now my mum doesn’t respond if I should Mum but will if I call her name. I find it sad, fostering took a lot from us as a family and this was one more thing to add to that list.

No, but as a child I knew a family where the kids called their mum 'mum' but their dad by his name, Geoffrey.

I never asked why this was. He thought of himself as a bit of a cool dude, so maybe that was it.

Me born in the 50s wouldnt have dared called my mom by her first name my dad died when i was only nine years old and he was daddy

No