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

[annaak]

I had a friend in primary school whose family did this - her Mum and Dad were always Sarah and Rick to their kids. My Mum used to hate it, she thought it was really affected. It really bothered her for some reason!

They weren’t especially hippy people, just quite relaxed middle class artsy parents (lots of music lessons and drama classes etc. in their house). I always quite liked the vibe of it and wondered if I would do the same with my own kids one day.

Anyway, got me wondering did any of you grow up doing this, or are any of you bringing up your children this way? Did you/do you find people are weird about it?

I only recently started calling my mum by her first name and she's not keen on it. The thing is she's so deaf she can't hear me when I say 'mum' but can when I say her name?!
I had some friends who always called their parents their names and they were really cool, nice families. A bit hippy/punk. This was in the 80s. Maybe now it's more common?

No, Mummy and Daddy. It’s still Mummy and Daddy, despite the fact that I am a grown woman and should probably know better.

The only person I know who calls his mother by her first name has a very difficult relationship with her. Ultimately he doesn’t regard her a ‘mother’ so won’t refer to her her as ‘Mum’. He does cal his father ‘Dad’ though.

My DGF never wanted to be referred to as Dad so his children grew up calling him by his first name. They will refer to him as "my dad" in conversation about him but otherwise always first name to his face.
Very working class family.

Oddly though was always happy to be Grampy/Taid for us!

I'm "mum". I hate it when the DC call me by name (but I don't like my name so that probably has something to do with it) but they only rarely do that to wind me up. They also call me "Mother" to wind me up as well.

Only because that's what I call my own Mum when she has wound me up 🤣🤣

@PandaChopChop I call my mum Mother when I’m telling her off! She does the same thing with her mum - it’s very funny!

Oh, I never do it to her face. She would murder me 🤣🤣🤣
I have just realised though she does exactly the same about her mum! More alike than I thought!

MiL’s entire family called her Mum for a month or so when DH was young as he called her by her name and his Granny ‘Mum’ as thats what he heard others doing (his granny lived with them at the time).

My late FIL said it was the most awkward month of his life going around calling his wife Mum and his MiL Granny 😂

My neighbours did when I was growing up - they weren’t particularly alternative so not sure why. They were a lovely family.
dd (22) will call me by my first name when she wants to be annoying!

No

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, 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.

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.

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 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 🤣

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

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

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!

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.

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 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.

No.

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

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

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.

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.