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[Letitia Naigles]

howdy!
here's my summary about children's names for mom and dad:

i received reports about 36 children, 34 of which used mom and/or dad's given n
ame at least once, when the family convention was to call parents some form of
"mom" and "dad".  21 of the reported children were boys (the two who didn't wer
e girls).

age of onset varied considerably:  before age 2, n = 4
at age 2, n = 14
between ages 3-5, n = 12
over age 5, n = 4

how does it stop?  well, if parents are encouraging (n = 2), it doesn't stop (t



hese children are now adults and still use their parents' given names).  if par
ents are actively discouraging (n = 3), the practice has stopped for 2 and hasn
't stopped for one.  even active discouragement evidently takes time to take ho
ld.  29 reported being fairly neutral about the practice;  of these, 13 childre
n have stopped it (this took anywhere from 1-3 months to 1-2 years).  for 12 ch
ildren, the practice is still ongoing (varies by age, of course).  4 children a
re now pre-teens or teens, and they're still doing it.

i didn't get enough data to assess the firstborn/later born question.

other intriguing things i learned:

the reports pertained to the following languages:  english, spanish, swedish, g
erman, dutch, french, japanese, and hindi.

there were 3 cases where the practice began when the child was exposed to a
new language--dutch, german, hungarian--and s/he would use the parents' given
names in the original language and the terms for "mom" and "dad" in the new
language.  upon return to the original language community, the children all
maintained their use of the parents' given names.

there were 3 cases of the practice by children being raised in bilingual
homes (spanish, french, dutch); these were among the earliest onsets, but
the practice stopped eventually in all 3 cases.

there seemed to be two different ways that children engage in this practice:





in group 1, the use of the parent's given name is for comic effect, irritation,
 and/or attention-getting.  that is, the given name and "mom"/"dad" are both us
ed and have different discourse demands.  any great need/comfort elicits "mom"/
"dad"
in group 2, the use of the parents' given name is uniform and consistent, regar
dless of discourse demands.  any attempt to correct to "mom"/"dad" is steadily
disregarded.

i was impressed by the great number of children who engage in this practice! it
 provided some definite indication of children listening to conversations of wh
ich they are not a part; that is, they're overhearing their parents'
conversations, the parents are using each other's given names, and the children
are learning aspects of language from such conversations.  way cool.
anyone want to do a systematic study of this with children who are currently en
gaged in the practice???

thanks VERY much to all who wrote; i appreciate everyone's generosity with
their anecdotes!!

letty naigles