Calling parents by their Christian names

I do not think they signify anything to do with your special relationship

Think whatever you like. I haven’t denigrated your decision to be called whatever you like by your children so please don’t denigrate my decision. I don’t care what others choose to be called, that is their choice after all, and my choice is to be called mum, and nana, because I love those names. To me they signify the special relationship I have with my children and grandchildren. Equally I loved calling my own mother mum, and calling my father dad, or sometimes daddy, even as an adult, because they were not only my mother and father, but my own special mum and dad.

There’s no need to criticise the choices of others, just because your choice is different. My choice hurts no one, neither does yours, except that you chooses to criticise, so let’s leave one another to make their perfectly harmless choices.

Two of my GC sometimes use their parents' given names, but usually call them 'Mum' and 'Dad'. None of them would ever call me anything but 'Granny'. My most recent DiL tried to call me 'Mum'', but I couldn't bring myself to answer to that, so she got the message and uses my given name, as do my other DiLs.
I don't think our generation would ever have called their parents by their given names.

My mother-in-law, who was very old school, asked me to call her either Mother, or by her Christian name. I did neither! My husband called her Mother, but it just didn’t ring true for me and using her Christian name felt disrespectful.
My children sometimes call me Mother, when they want to tick me off, but Mum most of the time. My grandchildren still call their parents Mummy and Daddy even though they are older teenagers.
We tend to avoid using actual names in our family though.

Some families use first names some don’t. I don’t think it’s disrespectful. I suppose it gives a feeling of belonging and security to be known as Mum, Dad, Auntie, Gran etc. but we are also individuals, which sometimes gets lost.

What I do think is impersonal and make me cringe are birthday cards with to my wonderful mum/dad etc with sentimental verses.

My husband thought he would be hip and wanted the kids to call him by his first name. It all stopped when one of them asked me if they had to because a friend called him weird

My Sister and brother in law used to call their parents, my in-laws, by their Christian names back in 70s they never battered an eye lid, my DH never did. I think my sister in law thought it was a bit rebellious and her younger brother just followed suit. In all fairness they introduced themselves by their Christian names when I met them and to their children's friends who came to their house. They always had an open door policy.

I don’t like Nanny or Nana, because to me that’s a nursemaid, not a grandmother. Those terms aren’t used for grandparents by anyone in our family. We have Grandma and Granny. (I’m Grandma.)

When my son was small he sometimes used to call his father Daddy Jim. It wasn’t official, just what he came up with.

I called my in-laws by their first names, as they asked.

My mum was grannie first name and now I’m grannie first name. My adult daughters and their friends starting using an unusual short. Erosion of my first name after a drama production they did as part of A levels. Twenty years later it’s still used, with fun and affection, I tend to get muuummm when they’re worried about something or I’m needed as emergency gran unexpectedly

Back in the 1960s it was quite cool to call your parents by their names; my poor mum and dad, or "Hen" and "Nella" as they became known for several years! I reverted to Mum and Dad in the '70s .

The children of my dearest friend called their parents by their first names. The children were both born in the early 1970s.

It sounded very odd to hear their toddler daughter, a whisp of a child with an imperious voice calling her parents John and Mary.

I noticed that when these children grew up and had their own children,their children used the usual Mummy/Daddy, Mum/Dad. However the grandchildren addressed their grandparents by their first names.

I called my parents mummy and daddy when young and then mum and dad as I got older and my DC have done the same , we’re mum and dad to them . I called my in-laws by their given names as did my DH for my parents .
My brothers kids call him a Spanish version of his given name , which his xwife always used .

madalene when I said that "I do not think they signify anything to do with your special relationship" I am simply stating what I think - and the "your" was intended as in "people's" special relationship, not any one individual.

I also said that "it doesn't matter what they call you" - I believe this is true.

I am certainly not "denigrating" your decision to be called whatever you like by your children.

If my writing came out as that, apologies, I didn't intend to cause distress.

I was Christened in the Church of England, so I have a Christian name. Couldn’t care one jot what the ‘thread police’ think. You can’t turn back time or turn it into something else.

My daughter has always called me Mum but my son has always called me and his Dad by our first names, we never really knew why and frequency tried to stop him.
Interestingly in a card or on a note he always writes Mum. And in his speech at his Dads funeral he refereed to us as Mum and Dad.

I don't have a Christian name and not do any of my family. That said ....
My father and mother insisted we called them Mama and Dada when we were kids. I hated this and found it embarrassing as I grew older. Then my father said he was happy being called his first name (Heinz) and my mother eventually followed suit with her own name ( Juanita). Once we had our own children, their first grandchildren, my father refused to be Grandpa or granddad and asked for Heinz ( negotiated to Papa Heiss by our children) and Juanita became Mamanita.
Now my grandson, of his own volition, calls his mum and Dad by their first names, from a small child. He sussed that he'd be answered faster that way, having observed and drawn his own conclusions!
He still calls us Grandma and Grandpa though.

NotSpaghetti

Mt61 and madalene

mum, mummy, nana etc aren't ^ names^. I do not think they signify anything to do with your special relationships. As someone said upthread, anyone can be a mother/grandmother etc. They may not even be liked.

If they love you it doesn't matter what they call you. Your name (or position in family) does not prove love.
I love my mother-in-law. I call her by her first name.

^& that’s how it should be 😊^

My mil was cantankerous- it would have irked me to call her mum or mother - just called her by her first name Ivy & sometimes “poison Ivy”under my breath 🙄

I have never liked my name, Gillian. I prefer to be called Gill or Gilly. However, since secondary school my 3 children sometimes call me Gillian. It makes me laugh, if it’s done in a lighthearted way then what’s the problem.

I really don’t care, whatever everyone wants to do

My husband's cousin calls (and called) her late parents Maggie and Ralphie. I find it unusual but it doesn't bother me.

My children always called me by my first name just as I did with my own parents. At some point as she was approaching mid-life my daughter started calling me Mum. Which is even weirder now since I am transgender and now live as a man. We accept each other's quirks :D

ReadyMeals 😁
That made me smile!
Ha ha!

No im going to say Christian names oldbat nothing wrong with it if you are offended by that that’s not my problem

When teaching English it is suggested to say ‘given name’ because certain languages have the person’s family name as a first name. That being said I still use Christian name in my head.

Well, if the thread police are going to be pernickety and say you can't use the phrase "Christian Name" even if you were christened or baptised in the Christian faith, then I'll have my twopenn'orth and say that you can't use 'forename' or 'first name' either, since in some cultures the surname/family name comes first and the given name second!