Do you call your parent by their first name?

@kolsti87 (521)
United States
July 14, 2010 3:27pm CST
I know most call their parents "mom" or "dad". But for some reason I always called my dad by his first name "Ted". He never had a problem with it and my siblings called him that too. BUt I've always wondered what others thought about this.
1 person likes this
15 responses
• Indonesia
20 Jul 10
its just respect to call your parents/elderly by mom, dad, mr or mrs for e.g. you dont go calling teachers by there first name like andrew you would put a mr in front of it as a sign of respect but in your case probably your parents would correct you while you were still young to call them mom/dad so i would say yes you are respecting them because of the way you were brought up but i doubt you would calling your grandmother by her first name now would you
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
21 Jul 10
Well no I call her Ba Noi which is Vietnamese for grandmother on your father's side. But that is probably cause I never met her until I could talk and by then I was told to call her that.
• Bangladesh
15 Jul 10
I never call my parents by their "first" name...actually in our society we don't call any of our elderly person by their name even if he/she is just 1 day older than us. I know there are different cultures and different views among people but just believe that everybody want to call their parents by 'mom' or 'dad' or by the similar expressions like I call my mom 'Ma' or 'Ammu' and dad 'Baba' or 'Abbu'.
• Bangladesh
15 Jul 10
haha...I'm Bangladeshi..nice guess. Actually things are just same here in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan as once we were same country. But really it is treated as guilty even when they are not around.
1 person likes this
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
15 Jul 10
Oh that sounds pretty cool. What society is that. I'm not trying to be racist but based on your picture you look either Indian or Pakistani.
@tomitomi (5429)
• Singapore
14 Jul 10
I have friends who call their mum by her first name. She accepts it. And that's perhaps their culture. Thought it's cool. But I've never heard anything like that in our Asian culture.
@tomitomi (5429)
• Singapore
15 Jul 10
That's cool! You're actually the first asian I know of then.
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
14 Jul 10
well im asian too
@Bhadine (594)
• Philippines
15 Jul 10
In our family, we are used of calling our parents with their first names but with mom and dad. For my mother it's mommy belle and daddy tin for my father. Kuya (big brother) michael and kuya bernie for my siblings. We find it cool, unique and more personal.
@Bhadine (594)
• Philippines
15 Jul 10
that is Filipino language. Well, most Filipinos just call their parents as mama (mommy) and papa (daddy). Since we are very close to every member of the family, we tend to include first names.
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
15 Jul 10
That's pretty cool, it must be a cultural thing. What language is that?
@Guit08 (597)
• United States
14 Jul 10
I think that it is a little strange (or disrespectful) to call your parents by their first name, but then again, each family is different. I have always called my parents "mom" and "dad", and I will keep doing that for as long as I live.
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
14 Jul 10
I really don't see it as disrespectful as my dad would encourage it. But every family is different :)
• Bangladesh
15 Jul 10
Yeah it's very strange but don't think disrespectful so far your parents are happy with it, comfortable and take it easy. You an call your parents whatever you want, of course if they accept it. But it's always sweet to call my mom as 'ma'and dad as 'baba'. I even can't think of calling my dad by his first name. It's quite unusual but no offence at all.
• United States
22 Jul 10
I don't call my parents by their name. I think many people may call their parents by their names because they think of them as more of a friend than the people who take care of them.
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
22 Jul 10
Well I don't do it because I think of them as friends, because I don't. They still have a strong authority but I called them that anyway.
@unique16 (1531)
• United States
15 Jul 10
Hello kolsti87, I never called my parents by there first name. I know my other brothers or sisters did and my parents were really mad. They will always be called Mom or Dad from me. Thanks and have a great day! Sincerely Unique16
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
15 Jul 10
Oh that's pretty cool. Thanks for the answer because people were giving some different answers and this one gives me another look at the issue.
@puccagirl (7294)
• Israel
14 Jul 10
No, I never called my parents by their first name. It is not customary in my culture, or in my family so I would feel very strange doing so. But each family makes it's own rules, so I cannot say if this is good or bad in other cases. If your dad does not mind it, why not?
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
15 Jul 10
Well what is your culture? Because I am Vietnamese and White American (I say that because I don't have a distinct culture from my Caucasian side other than american). And yeah my dad doesn't mind. :}
• United States
14 Jul 10
I never call my parents by their first names. I find it to be disrespectful. I have never called my dad by his first name.. nor have I called my mom by hers. I did make up a cute nickname for her one time lol so that she'd fit in with us. La Ice. LOL
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
15 Jul 10
Ice! That's a classic and I don't even know ur mom. lol. Well yeah I guess it is a little too familiar for an authority figure but it probably comes from the fact that my mom called him that so I took it to be his title.
@juryse (752)
• Philippines
18 Jul 10
I don't think there something wrong by calling your parents by their first name. But it really depends on your country/culture. Because here in the Philippines, we don't call our parents by their name. We call them Mommy/Daddy, Mama/Papa or Nanay/Tatay. I call my parents Mama and Papa.
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
18 Jul 10
Philippines huh? That's cool. I'm Vietnamese on my dad's side but he's pretty non traditional. And if you were wondering I'm American
@jerikjames (1041)
• Philippines
14 Jul 10
Our culture is different than yours. =) We're strictly not allowed to call our parents with their first names. But even if I'm allowed to, I don't think I could. I don't know, calling your mom 'mom' kinda gives a soothing and calming feeling and kinship. I don't know about you guys but this is how I feel. And calling my dad 'dad' gives me a sense of security. Calling my parents 'mom' and 'dad' gives me the feeling that they're authority, and they're going to take care of my siblings and I, and we could depend on them. =)
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
15 Jul 10
Yeah well I always call my mom 'mom' probably because when I was a baby developing my language skills she was in law school (I lived with her but she was busy) while my dad was done so I learned more about him than my mom. And culturally my dad is Vietnamese and in Vietnam if you call your dad by his first name you'll get killed. I don't know why but for some reason my dad didn't mind.
• Philippines
25 Jul 10
Probably your dad wants to show that even if his your father, you are the captain of your own ship...:D Hmmm, I call my parents by their first name if I'm joking or I'm extremely angry and that I plead to allow me to give my explanation...:D Haha...:D I don't really allow my parents to get angry at me if they haven't heard of my side yet...:D Open communication..:D
• Philippines
15 Jul 10
If it's ok with them, then I guess it's fine. But it would have been better if you got used to calling them mom or dad. Besides, the title "MOM" and "DAD" are reserved for only two people in your life. You can't just call anybody mom or dad so it would have been special if you call your parents such. For the parents, all other people may call them by their first name but only their kids have the privilege of calling them mom or dad.
@kolsti87 (521)
• United States
15 Jul 10
I never though of it that way. For a short period of time I called my dad Bo which is Vietnamese for Dad but he didn't like it very much.
@xylem916 (95)
• India
31 Jul 10
I never used to call my parent by their first name because I find it that to be disrespectful. I think different country have different society, in our society we never call anybody by their first name, even the person is one day older than us. I have never used to call my father by his first name nor called mother by her, and I used to call dad or mom. I truely believe that everybody will call their parent by dad or mom.
@aquariand (464)
18 Jul 10
Hi there, well i am a parent of three children and my eldest two children call me by my name and i love it, i had the eldest boy when i was 18 and my eldest daughter when i was 20 and as i was still young i didnt want to be called mummy so they call me Dee which is short for my real name and i never though this was disrepectful as we are like best friends. i had my youngest child when i was a lot older so she calls me mum, I think calling your parents by their names is cool as not all kids can do this because of an age gap or authority of parents, its much nicer to break down the traditional barriers and be friends as well as parents.