What Kids Call Their LGBTQ Parents (2026 Update)

What do kids call their LGBTQ parents? Many affirming, creative, and wonderful names! Here are some of the hundreds of names, plus the stories behind them, from the Mombian LGBTQ Parental Names Project, which I’ve been running since 2011. Have a look and add your own!

The parental names we choose (or our kids choose for us), and the stories behind them, offer many insights into queer families, showing how we value ourselves, embrace change, are influenced by our kids, and maintain a loving sense of humor. LGBTQ parental names, as these examples show, are as varied, creative, and intersectional as our community itself—and deserve the same care in their use as we’ve come to give pronouns.

What’s in a name? Our pride, our joy, and our selves.

The names below are just a selection of the many names and stories that people have shared with this project. See the Naming page for some additional name roundups, including one exclusively about nonbinary parent names (some of which appear in the other roundups, too).

You can also view the full results spreadsheet, and if you haven’t yet submitted a response yourself, I invite you to do so through the form at the bottom of this post. Results are public but are anonymous unless you choose to share your personal name(s). I encourage parents (and grandparents) of all genders to participate!

My bold below. (I have made some small edits below, mostly punctuation, for brevity and clarity; the full spreadsheet has the original submissions.)

The Basics

There are, unsurprisingly, lots of folks using “Mom,” “Mommy,” “Mama,” “Dad,” “Daddy,” and “Papa,” occasionally with a first name or initial added. That doesn’t mean there’s not a story to tell, as these people related:

We weren’t sure what we wanted our kids to call us, but we referred to ourselves as Mommy K and Mommy T to our cat, and our daughter adopted it with ease. Our son simply followed suit. (4 years younger). We have found we like the names as it makes it really easy for people outside our family to know which mom our children are referring to. Also now that are kids are older and have peer groups, most of their friends refer to us as Mommy K and Mommy T. It makes us feel like we are “moms” to all the kids.
When talking to our infant son, my partner and I consistently referred to me as Mommy, and my partner as Mama. 20 years later, he still calls us Mommy and Mama (except when he’s frustrated and really wants to get our attention—then he brings out the first names). I had wanted to be Mommy because it transfers better to Mom as kids get older (and as the non-bio parent, I wanted to have a parental name that would last a lifetime). However, at 20, he shows no sign of dropping either name, so the joke’s on me!
Instead of coming up with ideas, we keep it original. The kid knows we’re both fathers, but he uses our names because it’s less confusing.
[I am a] genderqueer lesbian non-bio parent. I had a real hard time adopting any sort of “mom” related label for various reasons, but these days I love hearing my son say “Mama” when referring to me, and it fits me. Being a parent has made me feel a lot braver about being myself and living honestly, because my wife and son love me, so who gives a f*** about anyone else?!

The Kids Choose

Sometimes the kids chose the parental names, by design, evolution, or insistence:

When I would come home from work, my wife would announce “Mama Tara Is Home,” and when our daughter was learning to talk, she shortened it to Mataya, and it is my favorite word in the world.
I was supposed to be mommy, but my son couldn’t quite say it when he first started talking. So he called me mimi for a long time and it just stuck. That’s how we got Mimi and Momma.
Vob was the sound/word my oldest made routinely when I’d come in the room as language sounds developed. The “v” sound is usually a later sound but my kid consistently made it. Vobby, vobba, and vobber are all derivatives that get used. [I am a] non-binary birthing parent.
Our son chose to call me mommo at about 18 months old…. I called him baby-o and buddy-o, so I think that’s why I became mom-o. Our daughter just called us what my son already did.
Our kid’s other bio-parent and my sweet wife transitioned and our kid started calling her Momz pretty early on after she came out…. When my wife and I transitioned the kid switched to calling me Parent! I add the exclamation because it’s always spoken emphatically and with joy and is a reflection of their humor and joy as well as acceptance of my non-binary trans masculinity…. We really let the kid decide what honorifics they wanted to bestow on us.

Honoring Heritage

Many parents drew on their heritage, with names including “Mote” (abbreviation of “Motina,” Lithuanian for “Mother”), “Nimama” (Cree/Michif for “my mother”), ”Maman,” (French for “Mother”), “Pabbi” (Icelandic for “Daddy”), “Papou“ (French, short for “Papounet,” a nickname for “dad”), “Mutti” (German for “Mom”), “Papa” (German for “Father”), “Ima” (and “Eema” and “Eemah”; Hebrew for “Mother”), “Anya” (Hungarian for “Mother”), “Papá” (Spanish for “”Dad).

Nonbinary parents also tapped into their heritage in a variety of ways:

I am Mapa due to combining the French maman and papa to represent my non-binary identity.
I came out as non-binary when my kids were hitting their tween years, so they asked to rename me…. We chose the word “tuiste” … it is Gaelic for parent.
I’m a trans non-binary single adopter from Wales. ‘Mamtad’ is a combination of the Welsh words for mother and father.
[I am a] transmasc nonbinary parent. [I use] Mado, shortened from ‘amado,’ meaning ‘beloved’ in Portuguese.

Something New

Many parents created their own parental names, particularly but not exclusively to reflect their gender identities.

We didn’t like the gender roles associated with mom/mommy and the perceived absence of dad. We like to think we aren’t subject to those conventions and we are both the best of both so we made our own up with Zaza and Zeze – my name also starts with an A and hers with an e.
We wanted a non-traditional name given my non-traditional identity as a mother. I look very stereotypically lesbian/androgynous. I thought something that sounded similar would be good so that it felt recognizable to other people. I decided Oomi would work. Almost immediately someone asked if it stood for “other mommy” which makes sense, so I often go with that if asked.
[I am a] gestational genderfluid parent. Our gestational name for our baby was “Cranberry,” and my mother (future “Gramz”) pointed out that cranberries grow in bogs. We changed the B to an M and [Mogs] stuck. It’s in the “mom” family without being “mom.”
Started as Mummy and Daddy, then when I transitioned I became Bibi as a contraction of my new name, Ruby, as son was still mostly non-verbal at the time and the ‘b’ sound was one he had in his repertoire so would be easy to say while keeping a clear distinction between parents.
We are raising our son bilingual English/Spanish. In Spanish “a” at the end of a word signals feminine and “o” signals masculine. So Mamo sort of means “masculine or butch mom.” We both respond to Mom and Mommy. Our kiddo sees those as “category” words and switches to the right name Mama/Mamo for a specific parent.
[I am a] genderqueer, masc, non-bio parent…. My wife breastfed and I gave bottles. The title of “bottle mom” slowly turned into “Baba Mama” and then eventually Baba…. Now all my daughter’s friends and teachers call me Baba. It is like I’m everyone’s Baba, and I love it!
JoJo’s middle name is Jo. She identifies as a parent, not as a mother or father. Our kiddo (4) is still making sense of who is a mom, a dad, a boy, a girl, a Jojo, etc. some days kiddo says Jojo is a girl and some days a boy. But it’s always clear that a JoJo is a loving parent.
I’m agender and the biological mother of our son. But “Mama” just felt right! My partner is non-binary and came up with Ommy.
I love ze/hir/hirs pronouns, but mostly use they/them since they’re more familiar, so felt like Zaze (pronounced Zazee) was perfect when I was considering gender-neutral parent names.
I’m a nonbinary person who uses they/them pronouns and dabbles in both masc and fem presentation.… After I gave birth I got worried as none of the titles for nonbinary parents felt right. Eventually I went with my gut and now I’m Dad (both children called me Dada for the longest time but more recently it’s been Dad) and my Latino partner is Papá.
I’m a non-binary parent afab who is the bio-parent…. After much debate I decided to go with Baba although I kind of wanted to just be Dad. My wife wanted to be Mama. When they were around 2 our twins started calling us Mamo and Babo after a song. Lately they have been calling me Dad, too, or referring to me as their Dad with others.
Our kiddos are adopted from CPS. They took to calling my wife, who is femme, Mom. Everyone I know calls me Tigger, it’s an old camp counselor name that stuck. So the kids were introduced to me as Tigger. I’m non binary and masc presenting so mom or any derivatives didn’t feel right. I don’t identify as male so Dad felt wrong. The kids call me Tigger, but I’m “their Tigger” so it’s more like a parent term then just my name. At their soccer practice the kids ask if I’m mom, no; dad, no; uncle or aunt, no. “She’s my Tigger!” I tell the kids to tell them I’m their parent but my daughter says “I told them you’re my Tigger, I’m not saying it again!”
[I am a] non-binary gestational parent…. My kids were 3 and 7 when I started transitioning, so I wanted them to have a say in the term…. I finally heard someone else say they use ‘Otter’ as a pun off of ‘other parent.’ I thought it was cute and it won over my 7-year-old (who was the holdout on many other options) because she loves puns.
As a [nonbinary] gestational parent, I wanted something that felt “mom” adjacent without being explicitly attached to typical femme norms. I liked the idea that Ama has the core sounds of “mama” (easy for a baby to say!) but would be special for just me and my kid.

One person shared their feelings about being mis-named (but having their kid stand up for them):

I’m a non-binary, non-gestational parent of a toddler. We decided early on that I’d be known as their parent, par-par for short…. I am the primary caretaker for our kid, so I’m out in the world with them a lot. People constantly refer to me as their mom. Recently they have started correcting people: “That’s not mom, that’s Par-par! Mom is at work!” It’s funny and cute when they respond that way but also annoying to be constantly mis-identified in that way.

And one person also noted how a parental name may provide important affirmation of identity in the world at large:

My parent name (‘Aba’) means ‘dad’ in Hebrew…. Especially since I’m still read as female most of the time, having a more masculine-coded parent title helps be a counterpoint to the song of constant misgendering when other people refer to me as ‘mom’ or some variation.

More Than Two

Some families need more than two parental names:

We (lesbian couple) fostered and then adopted two kiddos who were 9 months and 23 months when they came to us. I was Mama from early on. They continued to see their bio mom for 2 years so when they would say something about “Mommy”, I’d ask, “Mommy [wife’s name] or Mommy Mommy (bio mom)?” to figure out who they were talking about. Both names stuck.
They call me “Zabo” after Zoboomafoo, their favorite show. They also call me “dad” or by my name/nicknames. They call my co-parents by their names or mom/dad. I’m the masc/andro agender stepparent. One co-parent is a very femme lady and the other is a very femme, pronoun-avoiding genderfluid person.
Our daughters were born to my partner’s sister. She and her husband were killed in a road accident when they were 13 weeks old. When they are talking to us or to me about my partner & vice versa, they use our childhood nicknames like the rest of our family. When they talk to people outside our family they call my partner Mamma & me mum (I’m Australian). We and they have always referred to their mother as their ‘first’ mummy/mommy and, their father as daddy, or first daddy when in combo with their mother.

Grandparents, Too!

Our oldest daughter is married and has given us a grandson, we are Gee-moe and Grammy. Our four daughters say the only thing better than having a mom is having two moms.

Names Can Change

My spouse chose Moppa for our newborn twins—but in the process, decided to ask their 13 yo teen son (who I am stepparent to) to switch from calling them Mom to Moppa. He did so without any issues.
Mom, mama, mommy – changes with the whims of the kid!

Names for Donors

“Donor” or first names are popular, but also:

The sperm we used was anonymous, so the kids refer to him by the serial number or we refer to him as “R2D2” jokingly because it sounds similar to the serial number.
We used an anonymous (but ID consent) donor, but we have a lot of information about him. One of the things that stood out to us was that he listed his favorite food as spinach. Really? Who’s favorite food is spinach? When we were trying to select a donor we couldn’t keep all their numbers straight, so we gave all the “finalists” nicknames. His is, of course, “Popeye.” We’ve told our daughter (now 33 months) all about her conception and now she talks about Mr Popeye and tells all about how she was made.
Our donor is a close friend, and we refer to him and his wife as Uncle [his first name] and Aunt [her first name].
“24601” Not the sperm donor’s actual number but the only one I could remember from Les Miserables. So later when the boys would sing Jean Valjean’s song “Who Am I?”, it brought a special smile to our faces.