Calling people Aunty who are not your aunty

[Snog]

Does this still happen or was it unique to the 1970s?
And did it happen in middle class families or only in working class families?
Did you have aunties who were not actually your aunty?

Totally normal for our friends and our kids to say auntie/uncle. Mind you, I call my mums cousin uncle steve, yet wouldn't actually say auntie mags etc to my parents siblings, only one titled auntie is my grandads sister

There is a ‘posh’ nursery / prep school quite near us and kids in the nursery call all the women that work their ‘Auntie’. Makes me feel uncomfortable. Not sure why!

There not their

I never had an auntie who wasn't an actual auntie. Some of my friends did and i always thought it was a strange thing. My kids don't have aunties who aren't actual aunties either. The whole thing passed me by.

I do call all my parents friends aunty or uncle, in fact I call all my friends parents auntie or uncle as well!

All my friends kids call me aunty and vice versa. I'm not white or British though and a lot of my friends are either not british or not white.

@LemonRoses

I think auntie is a horrible word. Ours call their aunts and uncles by their first names. Once invited to do so, they’ve usually called family friend by first names. The same with friends parents - Mrs Smith until invited to use first name.

Why is it 'horrible'? It is, quite literally, what it is if you are that particular relative! I am the 'literal' aunt/auntie to all of my nieces and nephews! Nothing at all horrible about it...what a very weird concept 🤦‍♀️🙄

How do the uncles and aunts feel about this? . They’d be appalled if a child called them auntie. Theirs call us by first name too.

My children (5 and 2) have a Real Auntie (my sister) and two Doggy Aunties who are my friends with dogs that they enjoy meeting for walks. They know my sister is their actual relative and she doesn’t mind that they also have honourary aunties.

Still do it here.

So many aunies who weren't my real auntoes growing up in the 60s and 70s!

Auntie Joan is still known as that by our whole family despite not being a relative and younger than my parents.
'Auntie Joan dropped a date and walnut loaf in today,' my dad announced tonight.

It really did feel like we were raised by a village.

My school friends' children (in their 20s and 30s) have mostly graduated to calling me by my first name now, but still call me Auntie (Ridiculous nickname I was known by in school) when they forget.

Yes friends parents were always Aunties and uncles and all my cousins are called brother and sisters. But we aren't from the UK

It's a polite way to address your parents close friends where I'm from

In the 60s all my mum's best friends were Auntie first name to me. My daughters (born late 80s) always called my friend by their first names, same with friends kids to me. Their school friends mums would be Mrs surname unless invited otherwise. Their actual auntie is called auntie first name, even though they're now in their 30s, as I am too my niece and nephew. My late DH's auntie, aged 92, has been trying to get is to just call her by her first name for years, but we just can't do it. It's like AuntieMary is just one word to us all.

I call my godmother and her husband, auntie and uncle and it sounds odd if I dont call them that.

Yet my actual auntie, I have never called auntie just her first name. Never was encouraged to call her auntie but dps or dgps.

My parents had lots of Indian friends, so we had a great number of aunties when we were small. No blood ones though

@LemonRoses

How do the uncles and aunts feel about this? . They’d be appalled if a child called them auntie. Theirs call us by first name too.

Why would they be appalled? You seem to feel very strongly about this.

It just depends how you were raised. My mum is African and I wouldn't dare call any adult by their name. Even more is strange to me. I'm sure she'd be appalled.

I often travel to places where I'm called auntie simply because I'm of a certain age. I quite like it! But maybe I wouldn't if I was at home.

I have no Aunties or Uncles.
Grew up calling all older relatives and close family friends Aunt and Uncle.
I still call them Aunt and Uncle and talk about Aunt X and Uncle X to my dc referring to them as their Aunts and Uncles too.

I had to do this in the 80s and early 90s. Baffling & I stopped doing it as soon as I reached late childhood, although one of my childhood friends who had to call my mum Aunty still does it now we’re 35

One of DP’s friends refers to herself as Aunty Name on DS’a birthday cards. Not keen.

@rainbowdaz lemon feels very strongly about a lot of things... 🙄😂

My DCs call some of my close friends Aunty/Uncle and I enjoy being called Aunty by their children (all in they’re twenties now!). DH on the other hand doesn’t even call his ACTUAL aunts “Aunty” which I was surprised by....

Its cultural for us.
Family friends are aunties and uncles.
Actual aunties and aunties have different names.
There are specific names depending on if they are aunts pr uncles on you mum or dad side.
So your actual dads brother is a chacha. His wife would be a chachee.
Dads sister is pupo, and her husband would have a different name.
Mums brother is mama, his wife is mamee. Mums sister is hala, and her husband would have a different name. And so on for cousins.
It makes it more obvious how people are related and non family friends would be aunty or uncle as a sign of respect.

I hated this as a kid, not sure why it just made me feel uncomfortable. I totally forgot it was a thing with my own children, so I've not carried it on. In fact my sisters don't even like to be called auntie, they prefer to be called by their first name, whereas I do like mine to say auntie and uncle to their actual aunties and uncles and I like it when my real nieces and nephews call me auntie, it just feels closer. I think that is why I didn't like it for my parents friends, because it was always adults I didn't feel close to who insisted on it. Maybe it should depend on how close the adult is, blood or not.

Most of my Asian friends children call me Aunty's. DS calls DDs best friends mum aunty's. Shes a close family friend in her own right though and also has no knives or nephews so I think she quite likes it.

Toddler DD does this, in two languages no less. I like it. I’ve always wondered if it’s a class thing in the UK.