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

My children are 26 and 18. They still call my brother and his wife uncle and aunt because they want to. But I don't think anyone would mind if they dropped it.

I don't think it's something incoupd be bothered about if they're in their late 20s!

I still use auntie and uncle when addressing these relatives verbally or in birthday cards etc.

Because they are. Just because I'm in my 50s doesn't stop my mum being my mum or my aunt being my aunt.

Nothing wrong with it.

Bonkers 😂😂😂

Gosh, the utter cheek of an adult calling another adult by their name.

We do in the African and Caribbean culture. Some elders will often refer to each other as brother Peter, Sister Jane, etc. Also, particularly in the African culture, we'll refer to anyone older with the title Auntie or Uncle whether related or not! In fact it's considered very disrespectful to do otherwise.

Culturally older people are more respected and a title helps differentiate them from say, a friend.

I don't think it's childish to keep the title, no need to drop it - just be consistent with whatever was always used or perhaps drop the name and call you Auntie.

YANBU!

This is reminding me of The Archers where people name the person they are talking to in mid conversation with that person!
Eg "Hi Auntie Lillian! Isn't it a lovely day. I know, Auntie Lillian, let's go up Lakey Hill! Come on Auntie Lillian!"

I think it's nice to use aunt/uncle but the title is only an accident of birth and not bestowed upon you in recognition of years of service to nieces and nephews.

🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m mid 30s with DC of my own and I still call my aunt ‘Auntie Name’. My children call her that too even though she is their great aunt obviously. They also call mine and my husband’s siblings ‘Auntie Name’ and ‘Uncle Name’. Only our siblings though, never close friends / pretend family, I hate that. It’s a respect thing 🤷🏻‍♀️

If you want to be called Aunty Emma, you have the right to request that. However, if they'd prefere Emma then I'd let it go.

My nephews called me Aunty Rewis until they were maybe 6ish. Then they naturally stopped. I was never a fan of Aunty X. Now I'm waiting for my friends kids to grow out of it (or friends who tell their kids to call me that).

Why is it a sign of fragmented families if you call people by their name instead of a title?

You really want a grown man to call you aunty? That’s bizarre.

Oh I don't think you can really insist OP but I'd find it weird calling my Aunties and Uncles by their first names! And I'm almost 40!

Auntie Em 😆, I was thinking that when I read the post.

Is that you Dorothy?

We only used them titles when kids were young like pre school age now they are all ages 7 and up in our family and auntie/uncle has been dropped.

It's not cheeky for a 28 year old to call you by your name. Aunty is a title not a name.

I still call mine auntie and uncle. They hate it. I just find it weird to drop the title

I've no time for this. I had a childhood full of it and someone above got it right, it's about keeping the young 'in their place', which I have no truck with.

I've left it up to nieces and nephews to choose and they've chosen different things - some have never called me Aunty and some have.

You can be rude using titles and polite without. That's the important thing.

Some of the examples given above of adults refusing to talk to young people/relatives because they are not using the right title really reflects a problem with the supposed adults.

Well Im in a total minority, I only have one aunt and I call her aunt x.

In messages

Not sure about real life as we dont meet up that much.

I'm in my 50s and Scottish and still call my aunt Auntie, as do my children.

When I was a little girl my grandfather's spinster aunt was still alive and my grandparents all called her Aunt X, the younger generations called her an affectionate nickname that my Dad had called her as a small child before he could say her name.

My kids are teenagers and call their favourite aunts and uncles by their title but not the ones they don't like, it's a sign of family bonds and affection and particularly for the adults who don't have children themselves it's important to have that unique relationship recognised. I'm surprised and saddened that many PPs think it's childish to use these titles, and think it's a sign of how fragmented some families are that they don't value these relationships.

My oldest nephew is only a few years older than me, he used to call me Auntie when he was young but not now.
In fact several of them were born when I was in my teens.
I told all of them to drop the Auntie and some have, some prefer not to.

Que sera sera.

I've never experienced that, my adult nieces and nephews call me Auntie still and I still call my aunts and uncles by that and I'm nearly 40! I could honestly never imagine calling them just by their 1st names.

We went to a family wedding recently. I’ve got quite a few cousins and I’m the oldest of them. We range from late 30s to pre teens in age and it’s almost like there are two separate generations of cousins as my kids are older than some of my cousins. I noticed that most of the cousins called our aunties and uncles using the title before their name, and that my brother and I were the only ones who had dropped it. It felt really awkward hearing other adults saying Auntie X while we just used X. I understood the younger ones doing it, but then my kids didn’t use Auntie or Great Auntie. It’s all too confusing but I’ve realised I’m an outlier in the family with it!

To be truly accurate - she owes the man an apology!

YABU.

My DC have never used the title Aunt or Uncle when talking to or of those relations. To my ear it's as old fashioned as referring to Cousin Jim or Cousin Polly. The only times they use anything similar is when referring to their grandparents. Even then it is followed by the GP's first name - Granny Linda or Grandad Jim.

I'm in my 60s and always used Aunt and Uncle when growing up but that gradually fell away in my 20s. My twin sister OTOH always uses Auntie and Uncle even now. It sounds odd to me, particularly as she isn't close to them and only ever sees them at the now all too frequent funerals.