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

[egaley]

AIBU? Am I old fashioned?

I have an adult nephew and niece (28 and 26). They have always called me Aunty Emma.

We were having a big family meal and my cheeky nephew called me just “Emma” when he wanted to say something. I corrected him and asked him why he called me Emma, my name is Aunty Emma!

The niece and nephew I'm closest too still call me that and they're in their 20s, but I wouldn't object if they called me my name.

doubt it. while I am definitely working class, i am equally definitely NOT ordinary. Make of that what you will.

I agree it’s partly a class thing (though also an ethnicity/culture thing), but while sure, it’s a class indicator, I don’t think that deciding that only certain social classes are ‘ordinary’ is that helpful. I mean, upper-middles and the UC are also ‘ordinary’ to themselves. People who think that ‘pardon’ is a worse word than ‘fuck’ are also ‘ordinary’ in their own eyes.

Yes, working-class and ‘ordinary’ being synonymous is a weird idea.

I'm in my mid 30s and could nevr imagine calling my aunties by their first name only!

i am very close to my neices and nephew - I see them at least twice a week and they stay with me regularly.

they dropped the aunty title when the eldest boy was about ten. We were out with lots of kids who all called me by my first name - so he joined in. It was shorter and easier to yell across a trampoline park.

the title is meaningless - it’s the relationship that counts. He is a teen now and I know he would never address me infront of his mates if he had to call me aunty😂.

My nephews and niece have always just called me by my name. Mind you I was ten when the first one rocked up.

YANBU. I would never call my Aunt or Uncle by their first names. Just for respect really. That’s just how I was raised though.

I've never called them auntie and uncle. Would find it especially strange to do as an adult.

I wouldn't expect adult nieces or nephews to use aunty. I was aunty to godchildren when they were little but it's just first name now.

However, I can't imagine not saying aunty or uncle and I just always have. I like it.

I have no idea if that's their preference or not.

My nieces stopped using Aunty to address me at some point in their early 20s. My 8 year old niece sometimes uses Aunty and sometimes doesn't. It doesn't bother me either way.

I call most of my Aunts and Uncles by their first name and have done since I was in my 20s but I do have one favourite Aunt who I still call Aunty.

Unless you've changed it by deed poll, which would be very weird, your name is not Aunty Emma. It's Emma.

Very, very weird for an adult to insist on being called Auntie Name by another adult in my opinion. I'd say "it's my auntie's birthday" or "I'm going to see my uncle" in conversation to describe the person but I haven't called them Auntie/Uncle Name to their face since I was about 12.

When I grew up you always called Aunt and Uncles by that term. We even called friends of the family Aunt and uncle, even through they were not relations.

However, even though that was only in the 80/90s …it’s very different now. My nieces and nephews call me Twistybranch and my kids call their aunts n uncles by their first name. They still use Gran and Grandad though.

My late parents were from the Caribbean, and they always used the term Auntie and Uncle, even when my DM was 70, she called her late dad's sister Auntie X. However , having said that, her siblings always just write from 'Paul ' and 'Mary' on their greeting cards to me, so I guess they don't mind . (I am in my 50's) I was a bit shocked when my own nephews dropped the Auntie title for me when they were still at primary school, as I would never have dreamt of doing that. Do people also call their Grandparents just 'Dave' and 'Sue', or their parents 'Mike' and 'Brenda' once they are adults?

Also describing your 28 year old nephew as "my cheeky nephew" is deeply infantilising. It sounds like the way I'd talk about my friend's cute, excitable three year old.

I'm 39 and i can't imagine not calling my aunties/uncles first name only!

Those titles are signs of love & respect. No need to drop them.

I’m baffled by the responses on this thread. I am in my thirties and still call my aunties in their fifties “aunt Emma” etc. Why wouldn’t you?

Do you also call grandparents by their first names once you are an adult? If not, why not? How is it different?

As for it being a class signifier, I am very posh ☺️

'If he must insist on calling me by my Christian name, why does he not say Cousin Violet instead of just Violet. It makes me sound like a scullery maid. (c) Gosford Park. You are absolutely right, it is rude to call people who are older than you by their first name. Obnoxious. I nipped it in the bud with my dc when they brought their friends home and they launched into the first-name territory with me. I did not say 'why are you calling me...'. I just said 'Address me as Mrs ....'.

So do we!! I wouldn’t dream of calling my aunt by her first name only. My DSs refer to my DB and DSIL as uncle x and aunty y.

I have never called or been called "aunty". I have 2 aunts that I jokingly/affectionately refer to as "Aunty Maura" and "Aunty Mary" but if I'm talking to them I'll call them Maura or Mary.

You're being ridiculous. Your name is Emma, not Aunty Emma!

I just had a good think about this. Even if the house was on fire I would be shouting “Aunty Emma!” No way would I just say Emma, it would be so weird.

I wouldn’t call parents or grandparents by first names either.

I'm in my 30s and generally still use auntie/uncle before their names but if I didn't they certainly wouldn't scold me for it! None of my nieces or nephews ever called me auntie, just my first name.

Do you insist on pronouns as well!

I only use Aunty and Uncle for my older aunt and uncle. The younger one I just call first names. So could be taken as a compliment!

DH & I decided we didn't want to be called Uncle & Aunt. We explained this as soon as they were born, ( to the parents, not the babies 😀). When they were old enough to understand we explained that they could use Uncle & Aunt if they really wanted to & in return we would address them as Nephew.
They both stuck with using just our names.
I certainly would not consider any adult who dropped the use of Aunt to be cheeky. If that's where you set the bar for cheek or disrespect, I feel you setting it very low & must often feel slighted.
So my view would be lighten up, life's too short to stress about such trivia.