I have been wondering (for quite some time) why children don't refer to their Aunties and Uncles here as Uncle (Onkel) Dieter, or Auntie Ruth, etc, etc.

I remember as a child even calling my mother & fathers friends Uncle or Auntie whatever and my young English nephews and nieces still do that these days.

I find it so nice (& respectful) I'm left wondering why don't children here refer to their mother for father's brothers or sisters like that (or even friends)?

Matter of opinion really. I find it a bit weird and impersonal to call someone (especially someone who isn't my biological aunt/uncle) by a generic title rather than their first name.

Yep deffo opinion. My opinion 180 degrees round. I like calling my parents friends uncle this auntie that, even now in my "second half of the match" years.Its so much more affectionate.After all, I like my sisters kids calling me uncle rather than just grumpygit!

Our son's Aunts and Uncles have specifically asked that he doesn't refer to them with the Auntie / Uncle title, which is a bit of a shame (I always did) but it's their choice.

Weirder still was hanging out with a family we hadn't seen for a while last summer who had, in the meantime, had a couple of kids and their kids referred to their parents by their first names. No "mummy" or "daddy" in that house!

Hubby's family is Swiss-Italian, his mother loves Italian... our nephew revers to hubby as Zio but just calls me Peggy (perhaps "Zia Peggy" just sounds too odd ).

My American niece and nephews call me Auntie Peggy though. Makes me chuckle to think about it a bit as my brother's wife's sister is a bit "jealous" at being called "Aunt" instead of "Auntie."

For us it is a little bit more complicated. But believe me, you always know which ones the kids are refering to.

Uncle:

-mom's brother: Amca
-Dad's brother: Dayi

Auntie:

-mom's sister: Teyze
-dad's sister: Hala

Brother (and as an uncle) in law is: Eniste
Sister (and as an auntie) in law is: Yenge

Take a while to get it but after, you always know which one they are talking to or about.

Yes, that is a weird one, calling your parents by their first names. PC gone (completely mad)?

Sandgrounder, why would your son's Aunts & Uncles do that?

I don't know about the Swiss German side, but over here I have often heard children use tonton (uncle) and tatie (auntie), as well as papy (gramps) and mamie (granny) and even marraine and parrain (don't know the English equivalent, god-mum? god-dad?).

For our children, it's Auntie xxxx and Uncle xxxx, and Zia xxxx and Zio xxxx depending on the orgins of the aunts and uncles.

We didn't force it. It just happened like that.

I always stuck to Uncle/Aunt for my parent's siblings, still do, although they prefer I use their first name now--can't do it though, it feels odd.

I grew up with that and it's kinda programmed in. Although now, for new people, I don't stick stick to formal titles at all. I always refered to my ex as "D'Wife", I call my co-worker, who I share an office with, 'Mommy'. And always refer to friend's parents by their first name (when talking to the friend, to the parents I'll always start with Mr/Mrs, until acceptd by them)

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They didn't offer much of a reason but perhaps it sounded strange to them. I didn't push it, to be honest.

Each time my toddler daughter speaks with our Swiss/Italian neighbour, I tell her to refer to her as 'Tante xxx'. Just reading this thread now makes me realize my neighbour might think I'm rather odd haha!

I always and still do, refer to my Aunts/Uncles and close family friends as Aunt and Uncle etc... But, I and my siblings refer to our parents by their first names.

For me, I think it is because my parents always insisted on our school friends calling them by their first names and not Mr & Mrs..... It kinda just stuck.

Reen & John don't seem to mind. In fact I think they quite like it. I guess it made up for the fact that they always called the three of us GillianPeterDavid. In fact for many years, I thought this was my real name!

Each to his own. I suppose it comes down to how you sign their birthday cards.
If you sign it Dad, Jim , Uncle Jim or Grandpa Jim then that's what you'll get back.

One of my kids calls us Da and Ma. The other two call us Mum and Dad. I kind of like "Sir".... but it wouldn't stick. Seems respect has its limits

I used to call my parents' uncles/aunts or older family friends/friends of my grand parents "Unggle.../Tante..." Seems like many of the generation of my parents didn't pass it on. Maybe it was their way of protesting the pre-70s hierarchy/authority system or something the like...no idea really why, but I think it has been used more in the past around here.
I don't call my father Pappi/Pa etc. either, just the name. All the other kids thought that was weird, but that's an entirely different story.

And the italian zio/zia has in some parts of Italy become youth slang for dude/man or someone a bit slow.

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When I was growing up we defintely called our relations aunt, auntie, uncle, "cousin" for my parents' cousins... our neighbours or friends' parents were Mrs. Mr. etc... But as I grew up and had friends' whose parents were younger I realised they called their parents by their first names and expected me to too but I couldn't (and with some still can't) do it.

My child usually calls me Mum and my mother Granny but he uses our first names in certain circumstances as well and I like it. I will refer to my sister as "your Aunt G.", as she does with her children when referring to me, but they never use the title part, which I am comfortable with!
I don't wanna be "An Aunt"!
And my friends who are grandparents do not accept being called granny or grandad either-some of whom are 80 plus, but young at heart.
It's a generation thing more than a national thing perhaps?

Years ago, people wanted to grow up quick, nowadays nobody wants to grow up, or old, EVER!!!

Oh dear, how times change...

Except for my biological aunts and uncles, I never referred to an adult as an auntie/uncle (with the exception of the time I was in China). My parent's friends or parents of MY friends were always Mr./Mrs./Ms. So-and-so, unless they said "Just call me, [[NAME]]". I would in German also always use "Sie" and not "du" them unless they said it was okay.

They were older than me, so I guess I was just trying to be polite.

After my Dad left, our next door neighbour suddenly became my 'Uncle'.

We called and still call mam and dad, mam and dad. Biological Uncle Terry, Aunty Shirl etc. Plus - friends of the family, Uncle + first name, Aunty + first name.

cousins, brothers, sisters biological family were always "our + name" our Paul etc

Same for my son - in the UK he has biological aunties and uncles and my best friends are also "aunty + first name"

For me it's nice - but it's how I grow up. I'm now a proud biological aunty to 2 small children and aunty in name to 5 in total.