Referring to Aunts and Uncles

[oz diva]

On reading another thread I was interested in how that poster referred to her aunt. When talking to her she called her Aunt Jane*. (I wasn't sure if that was just for the purpose of the thread, or if she really called her that.)

Do you call your aunts and uncles and grand parents by the name Aunt Jane, Uncle Bob?

When I was very little I did, but somewhere along the line, I dropped the Aunt and Uncle and just referred to them as their first names. My girls also speak to their aunts and uncles directly without using Aunt or Uncle. Although they do call my mother Grandma. My nieces who are in their 20s call my mum by her first name. I have never been called Aunty Oz. 

I wonder if it's an Australian thing or just our family?




* name changed

[Outdoor Girl]

I dropped the Aunt and Uncle at some point.  But it still feels weird so I do my best to not refer to them by name.   

My nephews have always called me by my first name.  They'll introduce me as their Aunt Outdoor Girl, though.

Some of my friend's kids call me Auntie Outdoor Girl, because that was friend's preference.  Which is fine by me, too.  I'm sure they'll call me by my first name when they are older.

[gmatoy]

I dropped "Aunt" when I became an adult. My granddaughter has never really called my daughter "Aunt." I am Grandma and my DH is Poppa.

[guihong]

My nieces and nephews are all adults roughly around my age, so we've been on first name status for a long time.  I just remembered, though, that I call my own aunt "Aunt Betty", out of habit.

[Library Dragon]

I dropped on my side, but DH's family always use Aunt Sophia or Uncle Donato.

[poundcake]

I always refer to my aunts and uncles as Aunt First Name and Uncle First Name, even though I am an adult myself. Second cousins (of my parents' age), when we were younger, used to be called "Aunt" or "Uncle" as well, but some of those have dropped off to just First Name, depending on the closeness of the relationship. A few family friends are "Auntie ___," which was out of respect when we were children, and are just affectionate names now that we are adults.

[Mergatroyd]

I have many aunts and uncles, and even great aunts and uncles. I call them all aunt firstname or uncle firstname. I'm 28. My mother still calls her uncles and aunts that as well. I'm not sure about my dad. I guess since I've never been told otherwise, I just continue to address them as I always have.  I have no idea if this is normal, but it is for us!

[AylaM]

I think it depends on the family dynamics, not unlike having children call adults by first name versus using Mr. and Ms.

I live is the US, and grew up in a southern family, though we moved to a few different places. I always called my Aunts and Uncles "Aunt Firstname" and "Uncle Firstname".  Except for one aunt who is only about three years older than I am.  I call her by first name when speaking to her.   But when referring to her her I call her "Aunt Firstname".

Some of my cousins, mostly raised in the same area,  call all their Aunts and Uncles by first name.  And while I would never call them on it, it always annoyed me when they referred to my parents by first name and not Aunt and Uncle.  I've told my sister that I'd like be "Aunt Ayla" if she has kids.  If she doesn't like that, we'll talk about it, but kids don't use my first name.

...but I also called adults Mr. and Ms.  And I plan to teach my children to do so as well (unless they are asked to do otherwise).

Mom and Dad still call their aunts and uncles "Aunt Firstname"  and "Uncle Firstname"

[Mary Lennox]

My aunts and uncles are all just Firstname. My great aunts/uncles are Aunty/Uncle Firstname.

I am Aunty Mary to my niece and nephew (at my SIL's insistence). Since I don't have kids yet, I'm not sure how they will refer to my siblings etc, but more than likely just Firstname like I grew up with.

[AmethystAnne]

It's not just an Australian thing.

It's a regional/generational thing here in the U.S. I was born in 1954, and grew up calling my parents' and grandparents' siblings and spouses as Aunt Helen, Aunt Anita, Aunt Anna, Uncle Walter, Uncle Fred, etc. My kids and my siblings's kids were raised to refer to my siblings and me and our spouses as Aunt Donna, Uncle Jim, Aunt Tammy, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Laura, and Uncle Bob.

My grandchildren refer to their aunts and uncles just by their first names. When I talk about my kids to the grandchildren, I use the Aunt or Uncle title in front of the first name. OldestDD's DH's name is David Latimer. My son's first name is David. I usually refer to them as either Uncle David Webster or Uncle David Latimer.

=>To add even more of a twist to my family's story............

OldestDD met her now-DH during the preparation time of MiddleDD's wedding to David Latimer's first cousin Jonathan. Sisters that marry first cousins and have children result in a happy close family.

The children are nieces and nephews to the men because of the moms being sisters AND the children are 2nd cousins to the men because the 2 men are 1st cousins.

[Piratelvr1121]

I had some aunts and uncles that I'd call "Aunt" or "Uncle" and some who I'd address by their first name. Usually it was the ones who were the sort of adult that speak to kids like adults and make you feel like you're equal to them. 

I had one aunt who was actually my mother's aunt and she insisted on being called Aunt and that it would be pronounced "Awnt".  My mom told me she made the mistake of saying "Ant" once and the woman had quite an overdramatic reaction to it.

Me, if I become an aunt, I frankly would prefer to not be addressed as Aunt cause I just don't like the way either pronunciation sounds with the name "Annie".

I'm curious, how many people use Aunt or Uncle for dear friends of your parents? Or your kids call your close friends aunt or uncle?  Growing up, my brother and I were just expected to call our parent's friends by their names.  No "aunt" or "uncle" as that was reserved for family.  It wasn't till DH and I were adults and had kids and friends with kids that we ran into this.  At first I wasn't terribly comfortable with it, but I think it was also because people we weren't that close to were calling me "Auntie Annie"  when talking to their children about me. 

However when I asked my best friend what she'd like my boys to call her she said "Auntie Nickname is fine!" And as she is like a sister, it works.

[Jones]

I'm afraid if I didn't refer to my relatives as Aunt and Uncle, I'd get some stares and maybe a chiding later. Seriously, not done in my family. And from how my husband speaks of his, there'd be some knuckle-meets-spoon if he tried it.

[guihong]

I guess it used to be considered good manners to address cousins as "Cousin It", especially with relatives with tangled relationships.  As a young child, my family would visit my grandmother's cousin, so she was my cousin 2x removed or something.  She was elderly and told me that I was to address her as "Cousin Hazel". 

[oz diva]

I pronounce aunt, Arnt, rather than Ant.

We called the mother of my mother's best friend, Aunt when I was little.  But the kids call grown ups by their first name now, so we have no honorary aunties.

[Piratelvr1121]

Funny thing is I have some first cousins young enough to be nieces and nephews.  My youngest first cousin is even a few months younger than my oldest son, and I was almost 20 when his sister was adopted. But to them I'm just Annie, as in our family cousins are addressed by first names, regardless of age difference.