fbpx

Why Do We Call Our Parents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ Instead of Their Names?

©Pixabay

Across the world, no matter what culture a person comes from, one thing remains consistent: we don’t address our parents by their first names.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Every culture around the world uses some kind of word like we use ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ here in the good ol’ USA.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Surprisingly, across the world, the different names for ‘Mom’ even sound kind of similar, with many starting with an ‘m’ sound (‘Dad’ names vary across the world). Linguists, aka smart people, believe the sounds originated with baby talk, and then parents adopted the sounds to themselves: sounds like Ma, Ba, Pa, etc. These baby noises are universal, which is why similar sounds are often used across the world, regardless of what language was spoken in the home.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The detailed video below from Today I Found Out breaks down the various reasons for this interesting phenomenon. Take a look.

h/t: Mental Floss

We know you can choose a lot of sites to read, but we want you to know that we’re thankful you chose Did You Know.

You rock! Thanks for reading!