What People Call Their Moms And Dads In Other Countries

Mother and Father. Mom and Dad. Mommy and Daddy. Mama and Papa. Ma and Pop. We have many words and nicknames for our parents in the U.S. Naturally, the same is true in other parts of the world, too.

We asked HuffPost’s Facebook followers from outside the U.S. to share the terms of endearment they use for “mom” and “dad” in their native languages and cultures.

We rounded up 19 charming and fascinating responses below.

1. “‘Emme’ for ‘mommy’ and ‘issi’ for ‘daddy’ in Estonian.” ― Laura Linnap

2. “‘Mami’ or ‘mamica’ for ‘mom’ and ‘ata’ or ‘ati’ for ‘dad’ in Slovenian.” ― Nadja Venema Bačun

3. “‘Muttilein’ (or ‘mutti’) and ‘vatilein’ (or ‘vati’) is what we grew up using in German.” ― Steffanie Foster Gustafson

4. “‘Ma’ and ‘baba’ in Bengali.” ― Arundhati Gupta

5. “‘Mamma’ for ‘mom’ and ‘pappa’ for ‘dad’ in South Africa (Afrikaans).” ― Nonhlanhla Zitha

6. “‘Athair’ is ‘father’ in the Irish language and ‘máthair’ is ‘mother.’” ― Anna Noelle Feehan

7. “‘Mama’ for ‘mom’ and ‘tata’ for ‘dad’ in Polish.” ― Lily Kopacz

8. “In Urdu, ‘ammi’ for ‘mom’ and ‘abbu’ or ‘baba’ for ‘dad’ or ‘father.’” ― Rahila Ovais

9. “‘Mana mu’ is ‘my mother’ in Greek.” ― Bree Arnold

10. “‘Aai’ (‘mom’) and ‘baba’ (‘dad’) in Marathi.” ― Nandita Bhende

11. “‘Mama’ and ‘tata’ in Serbian.” ― Nina Kolacaric

12. “‘Mutti’ or ‘mami’ is the German equivalent to ‘mummy,’ and for ‘dad,’ it’s ‘vati’ or ‘papa.’” ― Catarina Appollonia

13. “‘Mami’ and ‘papi’ in Spanish when the kids are small ― then ‘amá’ and ‘apá.’” ― Diana Arevalo Rodriguez

14. “‘Mama’ and ‘papa’ in Dutch.” ― Karlijn Valerie Sofie

15. “‘Ima’ for ‘mom’ and ‘aba’ for ‘dad’ in Hebrew.” ― Yael Shechter-Kilbride

16. “In Brazil, it’s ‘pai’ and ‘mãe’ and in the north and northeast parts of the country, ‘painho’ and ‘mainha.’” ― Anna Gonçalez

17. “In South African slang, Mom: ‘dimamzo,’ ‘olady,’ ‘magriza.’ Dad: ‘timer.’” ― Musa Bram Fischer

18. “‘Mama’ and ‘papa’ in Russian.” ― Sophie Fisher

19. “‘Tatay,’ ‘itay’ or ‘ama’ for ‘dad’ and ‘nanay,’ ‘inay’ or ‘ina’ for ‘mom’ in the Philippines.” ― Karol Hartung

Responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.