How is a mother-in-law addressed?

Beechnut

Unfortunately I never got around to calling my mother in law anything.

I’m called by my name.

Sounds hilarious, what did you say then? "Oi!" or maybe "you there!" ?

First names for this generation but when I got married to an older man in 1970 I was the same generation as mother-in-law’s grandchildren and was invited to call her Granny. She never felt like mother-in-law and we had a very distant relationship.

I always referred to my hubby's mum as 'your mum'. He called my mum by her first name. The same for our respective FIL. My SIL calls me by my first name unless my grandson is there, then I'm referred to as Gran. He does the same with my hubby. I think using first names is the norm thesedays. I've never heard of 'auntie' but my family were never fans of 'pretend aunties/uncles' so maybe that's my experience. Not keen on calling MIL/FIL being called 'mum/dad' as that, IMO, is a very special title just for your own children. I'd never think of calling others' children 'daughter/son'.

By her 1st name, father in law by 1st name. Who wants to be confused by calling her Aunty???

Oopsadaisy1

I’m the same as Calendargirl I managed 50 yrs of avoiding the issue, but as we didn’t see the in-laws very often it wasn’t a problem.
Except for one day MIL asked me to go and ask ‘Dad’ if he wanted a cup of tea, as he was a sleep in the next room, I just stood there and called out ‘do you want a cup of tea’ loudly, she said that she could have shouted, but I just didn’t want to call him Dad.
All of my other in laws called them Mum and Dad, but I just couldn’t bring myself to as they were so horrible to me.

Wouldn't it be funny if they were rotters because you never used their names?!?!

I think that many people just ask, “what would you like to be called by me” quite early on, and the norm seems definitely to be first name or nickname. For us, everyone calls my wife Linda and me Grandad, but I actually couldn’t really care less what name anyone uses as long as they notice I am around and not just the ‘token male’ in the family.

I never called my mil anything for a lot of years,until I got fed up with her bossy ways and started calling her,her first name it seemed to put us on a more equal footing, the children called her grandma.
My SIL's have never been invited to but have always used my first name which I don't mind,I suggested my daughters call their Mil by their first names from the off they were much older than I was when I first met mine, it seems to work.
One grandchild calls me grandma the other granny and my DH grandpops or grandpa. They have lived abroad and call all adults aunt and uncle. I was made to do the same when I was small even my mother's friends.
When I was small we called our grandparents mother and father which they weren't but was a local custom even shortened by some to mud and fad. I think my father must have had trouble with my gran because he called her Mrs...... my uncle called her mam.

Back in the day, you called your MIL mum. My mother used that term for her MIL. I avoided calling my MIL anything as nothing seemed right. My DIL calls me by my first name, that seems the norm these days.

My first MIL insisted I called her Mother and I hated that. 2nd MIL was first name and children's partners all on first name terms.

grannylyn65

My daughter in law is Dil and I am mil!

Me too, grannylyn65!!

I called my mum -in-law ,Mum…… my son in law calls me by my first name.
Does it really matter… ask her which she would prefer!?

Except perhaps for when I first met her, I always called my lovely MiL by her first name.

In our family nobody but an actual aunt was ever called Auntie. I’d have cringed if asked to do that, ditto calling anyone but my own DM Mum or Mother.

Dd calls her own lovely Mil by her first name, too.

I come from a generation that was taught to calk neighbours and friends of my parents ‘Aunty and Uncle’
I never called my Inlaws anything to their face at first.
. When talking to others I would say ’ mum, ’ dad. And, later, when the children came along I could call my inlaws Grandpa or Grandma.
I envied my husbands friends calling my inlaws by their first names.

ElderlyPerson you will be delighted to hear that your thread has got top billing in today’s daily email!

I called mine 'mum' but only because I wasn't close to my own mum. FiL was pops, never dad!
I'm known by my first name by my children's partners.

Madmother21

Back in the day, you called your MIL mum. My mother used that term for her MIL. I avoided calling my MIL anything as nothing seemed right. My DIL calls me by my first name, that seems the norm these days.

Not everybody did! My DM called her MiL by her first name.
And my DF called my paternal GM by her first name, too.

I called her by her name to her but called her a lot of other things behind her back! She was awful!! I am sure you will be much nicer to have as a mother in law!

Ladyleftfieldlover

I didn’t call my mother in law anything! My son’s partner calls me by my Christian name. If my granddaughter is in the room, she calls me Nanna and so does my son!

Same here, my MIL was a chilly woman, I never knew what to call her so never called her anything.

First name

First name and that translates easily when grandchildren come along to Grandma (name) or Nanny (name) and helps differentiate between the two or maybe more than two if the children are lucky grandmothers.

First Name

My mother in law was addressed as Mum ( not that she deserved it). It was expected in my day

kittylester

I insist on being called Mrs Lester. They should show respect!

Blimey!

I am called by my Christian name. Never called my own MIL anything, as was never sure how to address her.

First name mostly - sometimes Aggie - given that name by eldest grandson while trying to say Granny- it’s sort of stuck for all the others!

First name. My mum in law once said to me that once she was widowed there was no one left who called her by her name.
My kids in law all use my name. One Daughter in-law and I have a silly "thing" where we call each other Mil and Dil.