Post # 1
Member
1475 posts
Bumble bee
When I was a child, I always used to call my aunts and uncles by “Uncle David” and “Aunt Joan” but now it almost feels weird using a title like that, so I have started calling them just by their first names. My husband also calls his aunts/uncles by their first name (since he was a teenager), so maybe it rubbed off on me? I know some people (my grandmother specifically) has mentioned to me that it is disrespectful. I don’t at all. What do you bees think?
Post # 3
Member
200 posts
Helper bee
On my dads side I call then all Aunt and Uncle. On my moms side it varies. She is the oldest by a lot so some of them were around the age of 10 when I was born and don’t like being called Aunt/Uncle. It depends on the person in her family I guess, some of them I do refer to Aunt _____.
Post # 4
Member
956 posts
Busy bee
When speaking with my younger cousins, I sometimes use “Grandma Linda” or “Grandpa Tom” because they aren’t their aunt and uncle.
Post # 5
Member
1427 posts
Bumble bee
- Wedding: June 2010 - parent\'s backyard
by their first names. calling them “aunt jane” and “uncle john” would make me feel like a 5 year old.
thinking that it’s disrespectful seems kind of old fashioned to me.
Post # 6
Member
1130 posts
Bumble bee
I still use Aunt and Uncle and always will. As a kid, my parents taught me that it was rude to address any adult by just their first name so everyone was always Mr. or Mrs., or Miss, Dr., etc, and adult relatives had to be addressed accordingly. My parents expected other kids to address them that way as well. Since that is so engrained in me now, it would be weird to start referring to those people by just their first names. So “Aunt Jane” could never just be Jane 🙂
Post # 7
Member
2557 posts
Sugar bee
I call them by their first names for the most part. I generally only call them aunt or uncle when I am talking about them to someone outside of my family.
Post # 8
Member
8481 posts
Bumble Beekeeper
I’ve always called them by their first names.
I remember the first time my cousins from Michigan came to visit (we’ve only met maybe 3 times) they called my mom and dad aunt and uncle and I just thought it was the weirdest thing.
Post # 9
Member
2536 posts
Sugar bee
It’s always just been their first names.
Post # 10
Member
576 posts
Busy bee
I still use aunt and uncle, and probably always will. It would feel so wrong to me to just use their first names.
Post # 11
Member
1475 posts
Bumble bee
@nerdybird: exactly what I think – I feel like a child calling them aunt and uncle!
@ginmar: me too, I have an uncle who is 4 years older than me
Post # 12
Member
5408 posts
Bee Keeper
I still use “aunt” and “uncle” before their first names. It seems weird when you actually think about it aha, but I’ve been doing it so long that it feels natural.
Post # 13
Member
1391 posts
Bumble bee
- Wedding: February 2017 - Seattle, WA
First names for me. I probably used Aunt and Uncle as a kid but I don’t remember for sure. I have a coworker who refers to his aunts as “Auntie” (pronounced like “on-tee”), as in “I hung out with my mom and Auntie this weekend”. It’s the weirdest thing!! He’s 33. I totally called him out one time and he didn’t get why…thought it was totally normal lol.
Post # 14
Member
167 posts
Blushing bee
I call them auntie and uncle. Fiance is different though, he’s always just called his by their first names. It’s the habit of a lifetime and not one I’m about to change! One exception is my uncle who married my auntie a few years ago, I always forget to call him uncle now and my mum keeps telling me off for it!
Post # 15
Member
1019 posts
Bumble bee
As I child, I used the title before their names. But, I stopped around the time I turned 12, since it started sounding odd to me. This is partially because the one aunt I see on a regular basis is on the older side and is relatively maternal toward my dad, her little brother (for reference’s sake, my dad is 55, my aunt is 69, and I’m only 19). As a result, I see her somewhere between an aunt and a grandmother. Thankfully, she’s not strict about that sort of thing, so she doesn’t mind.
However, I would probably use the titles before their names if I were talking to an aunt or uncle who I’m not very familiar wirh.
Post # 16
Member
400 posts
Helper bee
The ones I like I call Aunt Jane and Uncle John. But the ones I don’t like I refer to with just their first name (usually not in a very nice tone of voice). So at least as far as I’m concerned, your grandmother may be right about that being disrepectful, but that’s intentionally done on my part and I don’t think it’s necessarily true in all cases. I don’t call them anything to their faces since I don’t see them. The one I’ve never met I usually refer to as “your sister” when talking to my dad.