Are You Mommy, Mom, or Momma?
Before Sayle was even born, I was looking forward to being called mommy. My heart just melts when I hear babies say ma-ma and little kids call for their mommies or squeal, “MOMMY!” as their mom walks in a room.
Of course, since I was dying to hear Sayle say mommy (ma-ma really), he said daddy first-or da-da rather. That was fine, da-da is easy enough to say. It’s not like I carried Sayle for 38 weeks, was in labor for twelve hours and 41 minutes, gave up coffee and Blue Monster while I was pregnant/breastfeeding-not like I was waiting with baited breathe or anything. His next words were Elmo and Cookie, obviously registering higher than mommy, but whatever.
After a couple more months and a trip to the ENT for tubes, Sayle FINALLY said mommy! I was so excited and it was music to my ears every time he said it. He could have been screaming, “MOMMY!” in a temper tantrum and I would still love it.
Then all of a sudden, my title of mommy was taken from me and I was renamed momma?!! There was no slow transition where I was mommy and momma; I simply went from mommy to momma in the blink of an eye. I’m assuming he picked up “momma” at school because we certainly didn’t teach it to him and none of my friends’ kids call their mom, “momma.” Regardless, Sayle calls me momma now and even referred to Grandma as “Grand-momma” a few times while she was here visiting. There is no more “mommy” anywhere in his vocabulary.
I called my mom, “mommy” when I was little and “mom” as I got older. I did transition from “mom” to “momma,” but I didn’t pick that up until we moved to North Carolina. I’ve always thought “momma” was a southern thing, apparently more southern than Virginia. As an adult I call her “mother, but she swears I call her, “motherrrrrrrrrrr.” Either way, she answers to it.
My husband calls his mom, mum (said with a British stiff upper lip). In England it is mummy, mum, and if you’re a grandmother, then you are a nan. There is absolutely no “momma” in England.
My yankee friends call their mom, “ma,” which makes me laugh. I can’t hear “ma,” without thinking of Will Ferrell screaming, “Ma! The meatloaf!”
I’m interested in hearing what you call your mom?
What does your child call you? Are you mom, mommy, or momma?
Hi Brooke,
I call my mom “mom” (yes I am a Yank but no ma here, haha) and I was kind of hoping Isaac would call me “mommy” but he also picked up “mama” and it stuck. That’s alright though, now it’s grown on me and I love it (:
And in response to your Wedding Crashers quote: “I never know what she is doing back there!”
Hey Brooke!
We went through a period where Nora called me “Mom,” then we went through a period where she called me, “Kelly.” But after lots of me saying Mommy -isn’t is so fun to talk about yourself in third person? lol- she now calls me Mommy. So have you decided if you’re just going to go with Mama or if you’re going to try to change it?
I call my mother “Mom” and have for as long as I can remember. I think it has something to do with being the 4th child. By the time I was born my brother was already calling our mother Mom and all of the other siblings followed suit.
Personally, I love southern thing of Momma… no one says it up here (IL), and I love it! Anthony (my husband) already calls me that and I am not due until Sept
Good post, always fun to see what other moms like to be called!
Sarah-You know, sometimes I think I’m the only person who has random sayings rolling around in my head, until I go public with them-and someone chimes right in with me! I LOVE IT! I love “MA-the meatloaf!!!” Really,it’s the little things.
Anyways-yes momma. To be fair, momma is more fun to say than ma, do any of your Yankee Doodle friends call their mom, ma?
Kelly-I do love talking in third person. ~ugh~ Unfortunately, I have to do it in my documentation in the form of “and this author, writer, reporter, etc. witnessed, instructed, educated, explained, blah blah blah whatever I did. If I ever speak to you about myself in the third person, please start an assessment on me immediately because “Brooke’s behaviors require immediate attention!” I believe I’m going to fight a losing battle if I challenge the momma/mommy issue. Is momma bad, not really. I simply took issue in not having fair warning. I have no idea how I went from mommy to momma so easily. Even when I ask Sayle to say mommy, he says momma. The south has been embedded in his brain. Soon he will be saying “ya’l!,” (which is embedded in my brain) but I will have to draw the line if he starts saying he’s “fixin” to do something.
Toni-do they say ma or mom up there? Since your husband is using momma, are ya’ll going to use it when the baby starts talking? Is he southern at all? It would be interesting to see if “momma” will stick up north! Let me know!!
Matthew and Aubrey call me Mommy and Brady and Cameron call me Mama. I prefer Mommy but I know some day it will me just Mom.
My boys called me Mummy or Mum when they were little – with an English accent don’t you know?! Unsurprisingly Ben became more creative during his teenage years and often called me ‘Mut’ (rhymes with put) which is a derivation of the German Mutti. German was his foreign language at senior school. He also went through a phase of calling me a very unsavoury ‘Mumhole’! Needless to say I did not respond to that monicker! I bet you can’t imagine your delightful toddlers becoming ‘oh-so-challenging’ teenagers can you?
I now absolutely love being called Grandma or Grand-momma by Sayle!
I have always been “mommy” Well, depending if they’re in a non-sharing mood (like always) it’s “my mommy” with a glare towards the other one.
Brook,
Yes we are planning on using momma once the baby is born, I am hoping it will stick. Neither one of us are from the south but my we did just move from NC (military husband). I am going to ask our family (who will be around the baby most) to refer to me as momma. So we shall see how it goes. Ohh yes… It is a boy
I called Fain both mother and momma. To this day we still refer to 513 as momma’s house. I know I have displeased you mightily when you call me motherrrrrr.
Rylee still calls me “mommy” but every now and then I get the “momma” as well. I simply say, “who?” and he will revert back to mommy.
As for the southern thing….I do believe “momma” is a southern thing….although to be fair and super country…..I call mine either “momma” or “muh”. LOL.