What do you call your mother?

freshpopcorn

With mother's day coming up.

I call my mother Mam.

I'd always found Mom sort of American but it seems populat with people from Kerry.

What do you call yours?

LambshankRedemption

I used to call her mum. Now, she's just the sadly missed.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123296996#Comment_123296996

Ditto, coincidentally I'm pulling together photos for my young lads 21st party this weekend and looking at photos of my my Mam, his Mam and even her Mam and missing them all a touch more than usual.

We called her Mammy as small children, then Mum. Don't know why - most of my peers call their mother Mam, including my cousins, and my parents called their mothers mam/mammy. I suppose there was the odd kid around our way who called their mother mum, and it was picked up by us.

"Mom" in rural areas (Kerry, Cork) comes from "Maim" in Irish - sounds like Mom.

freshpopcorn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297020#Comment_123297020

Ya, I really noticed I'm the Mom things woth Kerry folks especially amd maybe West Cork.

Hooked

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOLxQGLJouI

had to…

salmocab

I usually call her Ma which I think is quite Dublin working class. Have mates that say mum they are usually from slightly more affluent areas originally. When I lived in Australia a girl from Leitrim in our digs called her Mammy which always felt like something a young child would say.
my ma has a nickname that we all call her my dad, siblings and the grand kids who never call her nanny or whatever always the nickname

Day Lewin

Mamaí. Gaeilgeoir family. But it does sound quite like Mammy/Mommy and we do say Mam/Mom as well.

Adding to clarify: the A sound in Irish is something between Mom and Mam.

Boggles

Your Ma

Thelonious Monk

in dublin anyway a rough guide is

ma - council estate working class

mam - not quite as working class

mum - d4/malahide

mom - gobsh*te

and then usually someone goes on about it being mom in kerry. i somehow doubt the healy-raes called there ma's mom though, more like a hard "mammy".

furiousox

Dave 🏳️‍🌈 👍️

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297148#Comment_123297148

They absolutely would call their mothers mom. My friend's Kerry mother asks me how my mom is. As does my other friend's northwest Cork, gaeilgeoir mother. The Irish for mam and mammy sound like mom and mommy. That's where it comes from. It's nothing to do with sounding American. It may be in Dublin, but definitely not Kerry/rural Cork.

You're not from there - trust people who are!

Montage of Feck

So your calling me a gobsbite? I'll tell my mom on ye.

phormium

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297148#Comment_123297148

Well actually my mother in law, a rural Kerry woman who died I'd say maybe 20 yrs ago in her 90s always referred to her mother as Mom, fairly predated US TV or any TV for that matter! I'm nearly as old as TV in Ireland and we know how basic it was for a hell of a long time and my mother (dead over 40yrs) was always Mom to us too.

I often wonder what influence Irish emigration at a time when we actually spoke Irish had on US culture, maybe we gave them Mom from the Irish version!

volchitsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058403967/what-do-you-call-your-mother

You missed Mammy. That's what I would normally call her. Mam occasionally, Mum less often.

I really dislike the word Mom - well, I mean in Ireland. Don't mind Americans using it obviously. 😁

freshpopcorn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297148#Comment_123297148

Dáithí Ó Sé is always on about Mom's.

I'm fairly sure the Healy's-Rae's mother was born in the US. So, they've a great excuse.

Mars Bar

I was in a flat share with a Gaeilgeoir from Galway and she also calls her Mam Mom, in the same way the Kerry thing gets mentioned here. Myself and our other flatmate are also Galwegians but closer to the north of the country and both call our Mams mam.

Juran

We have always called her by her first name. Same with my father. Thry are in their 80's now.

We dont know why really. I think they were a bit midern and hip back in the 1970's. But my friends found it odd when we were growing up.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297405#Comment_123297405

It doesn't matter my brain just isn't capable of believing irish people genuinely call their mothers mom without it being American tv influence

phormium

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297523#Comment_123297523

Well I don't know what to say to you so, I'm far too old to have been influenced by American tv as a child 😁 RTE only started in 1961 and tvs were scarce in rural Ireland. I know we had one when I was about 6 or 7 in mid 60s but we certainly weren't getting US shows in the limited hours it was broadcast.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297523#Comment_123297523

Your brain can compartmentalise between Ballyvourney in Cork, and Ballinteer in Dublin! 😊

Bridget Clarke

Nothing more cringey than an adult addressing their maternal parent as ‘Mammy’. Gives me the ick.

griffin100

Being from Dublin I always call her Ma. My wife is south east of the country and used Mammy.

My kids use Mammy but I always refer to their mother as their Ma when talking to them, as in ‘where’s your Ma?’. They never ever use Ma.

If asking about someone’s mother I’d always ask how their Mum or Mother was.

salmocab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123298861#Comment_123298861

Actually thinking on it I say Ma but would also say mum if asking someone how theirs was. Dublin too. That’s an oddity

John_Rambo

Maybe the whole "mom" thing came over with the Kerry emigrants to America.

I'm from Dublin, so it's always been mam or ma to her, and my mother if I'm referring to her or talking about her but "your ma" would be a common enough smart arse answer when we were kids:

"What's that smell?"
"You're ma"

I know quite a few rural girls who still insist on calling their mother mammy even when they're fully grown adults. They'll refer to they're parents as mammy 'n daddy in conversation too. I think they feel it's endearing.

Hamsterchops

I think it varies from place to place in Ireland, some towns or estates seem to be Ma, Mam or Mammy, other areas Mum/Mummy would be more common. Have only come across Mom in recent years, as previously I only heard it used on US TV shows.

Irish media seems locked into using Mam & Mammy, although as I say, on the ground & in reality it does vary from place to place, accent and tone of voice may also play a part.

Mum for me.

Larbre34

Chef.

I'm 46.

Mummy is a north of Ireland thing I think.

Schnooks

When I was small it used to be Ma or Mammy. Since my 20s it is Mam, or by her name, depending on the convo. If I am a littled annoyed with her, it's "Mother"! 😉

All my siblings use Mom, which I don't like. I know it is a direct translation from Gaelic, but none of us are speakers, it just sounds American to me.

Don't like Mum either, that sounds too UK-ish for me. I'll stick with Mam, and will hopefully be using it for a few more years (she's 88) 🤗

mrslancaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123299550#Comment_123299550

Probably more common in NI tbf but used here too. Dub here and both ours and extended families used Mummy with babies and toddlers, Mum during school years, and always Mother for adult children. Don’t think Mummy is used much now, just Mum.
I always liked Mam, used by some of my friends, it seems softer somehow, but I think the words used for either parent are down to maternal preference through the generations. One of our friends, Dub and Spanish wife and their kids used Mama and Papa until the kids hit teenage years, then it was Mum and Dad. Maybe that was about peer groups?
Agree with others, there seems to be more Mom now than before. Great that it’s traditional and not just something we’ve picked up from the US.

bladespin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123299550#Comment_123299550

Pretty sure it's Egyptian in origin. ;0