To want my adult niece and nephew to call my Aunty Emma?

Don't mock miss marple

When I was small I called neighbours I knew well auntie or uncle. But only until I was 14 or so!

My kids are 10 and 12, they don't call my sister Aunty, just her fist name shortened. I've just sent my uncle a card, written inside his first name, no Dear uncle. I think it's a bit old fashioned now tbh.

Oh yes, I forgot about all my mum's female friends being called Auntie, too! I wonder if it's a class or Northern thing ?

It feels strange but my nephew, 9 years younger than me, still calls me auntie. I am in my mid 70s.

This makes sense. I was reading through so confused about the number of people saying it's a cultural thing. I'm white British and until this thread it had never occurred to me I should have dropped the aunt and uncle once an adult, I'm amazed that so many people disagree. I don't think it's a cultural thing as in my northern town it is normal to say aunt and uncle when talking to or about family. A class thing makes more sense, especially given the tone of some of the posts.

Blimey. My niece has always called me by my given name.

Aw I think it's nice to be called Auntie, I refer to my one remaining Auntie as Auntie Pamela (not real name) and I'm 46!

Some communities, all females are Auntie and I think it's lovely.

I'm with you OP but I wouldn't try to force it on anyone who didn't want to cal me Auntie Though.

Dsis and I haven't used the titles for our aunts and uncles since we were teenagers. I find it weird to do it amongst adults...unnecessarily formal. One aunt didn't ever want to be called that, so she was always just known by her first name anyway, even when we were tiny.

My nephew calls me by my name and has done for years - probably since he was around 7 or 8. Fine by me. My dd does the same with my dsis. However, she does use titles with her dad's side of the family and with his friends, because he is from a culture where it is definitely expected. She has always instinctively understood this difference and never seemed to find it confusing.

It is weird - one of the dinner ladies from dc's school lives 2 doors down and dh and I still call her Mrs X - I have to check myself when speaking to the other neighbours as they'd think I was weird if I didn't refer to her by first name - I'd also not address her as Mrs X to her face or on a Christmas Card because that would be odd too.

Same! I would feel weird calling my aunties and uncles just by their first name, and my adult nephews still call me auntie. I’d never given it a thought until now and just assumed it was like that for every family. I wouldn’t correct my nephews if they didn’t though, and for my little nieces and nephews it’s up to their parents really.

Things have changed @egaley

If adults wants to call their extended family by titles then great, but most people drop the aunt bit when they grow up.

I think you’d be totally shocked if you went to a special school, the children refer to the teacher by their Christian name not Mr/Mrs etc.

To add... I genuinely think if I saw any of my primary school teachers from 30 years ago I'd also still probably call them "Mr X" or "Mrs Y"!

It's kjnd of like how Gary Neville still refers to Sir Alex as "the Boss"! He always says he'd never call him by his first name lol

Yep. Aunt Dorothy was aunt Dorothy till she died at 93. We always say aunt and uncle (name) if they are an aunt or uncle.

Good friends of parents are sometimes referred to as Aunty or Uncle by smallish children in the UK too,

I still refer to mine as auntie and uncle too and I'm 38! Even my (blood) uncle's ex wife who divorced when I was 24, I still refer to her as "auntie Rachel" if I'm speaking about her 😂 I'd known her since birth and that's all I ever knew her as! I don't know at what point in my life it would suddenly feel normal to refer to them as just their first name, I don't think I'm likely to just wake up one day and think "hmm I'm all grown up now I think I'll drop the prefix"!

When I use auntie and uncle it's a sign of affection not respect - I don't really understand the respect thing - I convey no respect when someone insists I use a title - felt the same about teachers at school - when they were my teachers or my kid's teachers I just thought it was silly. Respect is earned.

I got told off by aunty when I was mid 20's and that was ok

I was a young teenager when I became an aunty and never wanted the title as it made me feel old. If I ever hear the eldest it saying it I know I'm about to get ribbed. That's fine too.

When I became an adult I stopped saying Aunty and uncle and just used first names. Thought everyone did that.

I've always called my aunts and uncles by their first name so it seems weird that the change annoys you.

More counties than just these two. Across Asia, Caribbean and Africa this is the norm for your elders of any age.

I agree with this. It’s very ‘putting them in their place’ which I hate. My FIL was introduced to me as first name and he said “that’s Mr surname to you”. He was being tongue in cheek but it made me feel about 2” tall and I wanted to cry in that moment.

If I was talking to someone else I would use Aunty or Aunt Emma, just to differentiate from any other Emma, face to face first name only.

You can still do that with the aunty title...?

Calling your parents mum and dad has never stopped anyone from getting know them as an adult

Absolutely not unreasonable. I'm a lot older than your nephew and would never dream of calling my Aunties by their first name. It sounds like you were rather polite in your correction of your errant nephew.