Proper Etiquette in addressing relatives

Only person I do not call by their name is.. my mother.... my aunt has a name.. so I call her by that name.. I do not see how this is disrespectful to aknowledge that someone has a first name. I would be very interested to see an explaination as to why this is disrespectful and not an "this is how I was raised" but a why.. why is this SOO disrespectful? can anyone shed some light please? Id be very intersted. If its because they are elders.... I was trained( yes trained, see my avatar), to call elders who deserve respect Sir and Miss, so.. if its an "elder" thing then wouldnt Sir or Miss be just as respectful then as "aunt" or "uncle"? im just very interested to know why this is considered disrespectful to call relatives by their names. (likes to learn about different views and such)

I was raised that way as well. I always said "Aunt So & So or Uncle So & So" But, I have 2 kids of my own now & to be honest with you, my daughter calls the grandparents grandma & papa, but when it comes to my sisters, for some reason my daughter wont say "Aunt" she just says the first name. But the weird thing is, she calls the inlaws "Uncle So & So". Once again, that might be more the adults fault then the children... I really never thought about it until now. Also now that I think about it, I believe only one of my sisters kids calls me "Aunty".. I don't think its really disrespectful... I just think maybe I as a parent should start teaching my kids... I think we just got so use to calling them by the first name... I guess what really matters is my kids know we are family... at least they are not going up to them & saying "hey you, hey you.."

I grew up pretty much calling everyone by their first names. I think for me it was because most of the time I wasn't so much addressed as talked around, so whatever people called each other is what I learned to call them. Hence, my mother called her sisters by their names or nicknames, therefore so did I. I don't really get the need for formality within families. It just seems ... cold. But that's just me. My friend's children call me 'aunt' and then a nickname, and it's cute when they do it. But I only have one nephew and I've never met him, so I guess that makes me really not have much of a care for what he called me if I did. I wouldn't really expect anything of him.

I was raised with aunts and uncles and then their first names, but I guess it might be because when their parents talk about you they dont say aunt.... Maybe they just say your name. You could take the kids aside and say I would love it if you would call me aunt..., That way everyone would know I am your aunt, because I am so proud of it I want everyone to know....lol...or something like that, that doesnt make them feel like they did something wrong, but it lets them know what you want you know?

Hi RLongislander, I was brought up the same way as you were. I still use Aunt and Uncle when addressing them and I like it when my nieces and nephews address me the same way. It does have to do respect. I have a niece that stopped calling me Aunt and I refused to answer/talk to her. She said she felt that she was too old (15) to call me Aunt. I told her, 1st of all I earned that title, 2nd of all it is about respect, 3rd you will never be too old to call me Aunt. I still have the respect for my Aunts and Uncles to call them such and so will you. She understood and respects her Aunts and Uncles.

I was brought up the same way. As a mom, I forget to call my brother Uncle and his wife Aunt in front of my children. It's not out of disrespect just forgetfulness.