Why would anyone nickname their 3 year old girl "mama"?

I have heard Hispanic people call their girl children “mama.” I think it’s an affectionate nickname.

I don’t call my daughter Mama. I might call her “Angel.”

I nick named my four year old “Chubby Chub” since she was really rolly polly when she was about one year old.

@Charles You might want to reconsider that. It could be considered derogatory.

@Charles Don’t write that on your daughter’s intake form. You might be charged with child abuse. ;-)

It is quite common here, usually amongst the “Eastern” peoples, the Mizrachis (Northern African and Middle Eastern), to nickname their little boys “Abale” – which means little father.

I’ve never understood this.

Are they trying to instill in the child the idea of having large families?

My nickname was “damit stop screaming.” I had 3 older brothers that tortured me.

I just looked at the Number of live births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, by race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1990–2007 from the US Dept of Health. According to their statistics, recently (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 last year listed) the birth rate for Hispanics is more than 3 times that of whites. Black birth rate is more than 2.5 times that of white. There are no statistics here for “nationality”. That would be interesting. Do Italian families have more children?

@zensky Do Mizrachim have larger families than average?

@chyna Did they call you DSS for short?

I have a girlfriend who called her little girl ‘lillemor’ which means little mother. The child was the same year in pre-school as my little man, so she was almost 3 years old. This sweet little girl loved dolls and looking out for the other children, even chiding them when they did something wrong. She really did behave like a little mother. It was a sweet, affectionate name for a sweet, affectionate little girl.

@cazzie What language is that? Is your friend from an Italian or Hispanic background?

Maybe they’re a fan of Genesis…..you never know.

At first Mama does seem very strange name for a little girl. But remember that the little girl will someday grow up and be a mom and then Mama will be right-on.

Also with the trend of boys names being given to girls nowadays, Mama seems pretty good. (I work in healthcare and I’ve noticed the following: Dylan, Logan, Drew, Devon, Jayden, Cameron, Morgan, Riley, Justice, Skyler, Bailey, Hunter, Erin)

@chyna “Idiot” and “Retard” (as well as unprintable names) were names that my older sisters called me (also known as the baby boy). They seem to enjoy humiliating me. It was painful at the time but everything is cool now.

@jca I think you may mean “Mija” which literally means my daughter.

@LuckyGuy not Italian or Hispanic. Not even close. She is Norwegian.

The same reason parents named their child “Deluxe”

Must have been one hell of a baby.

@gondwanalon: Daughter is “hija” en Espanol, not “mija.”

No, they call their daughters “mama” around here (NY Tri-state area). Not all of them do but I have heard a few call them mama.

My wife was born in Argentina and (partially) raised in Italy. She refers to our daughter as “Mama”.

I, on the other hand, called her “Fish Lips Johnson” when she was a baby. Now, I call her “The Boopachetta”.

@jca “Mija” is short for “mi hija” which is Spanish for “my daughter” Here

@gondwanalon Right ! “Mija” is an affectionate form of mi hija. My uncle called his several daughters Mija all the time even as adults. He often called my sisters and other female cousins that too. He called their daughters Mijita. He was a sweet guy, we miss him.

@gondwanalon: Got it. Definitely they’re saying “mama” though.

If the daughter is called Mama, what does she call her mother? Grandma? Mama2?
And what about the husband/father? Which term does he use?
Very confusing.

@LuckyGuy Yes, they do.

The average Italian birthrate is actually insufficient to maintain the population.