History Main / NewParentNomenclatureProblem

-->'''Green Goblin:''' You know how you mother is about these things.\\

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', where Phineas and Candace refer to their stepfather, Lawrence, as "Dad." Ferb would presumably refer to Linda as "Mom", "Mum", or "Mother" [[TheQuietOne if he talked enough for this to ever come up]].

* ''FanFic/{{Dangerverse}}'': As a general rule, the cubs of the Pack address their Pack-parents by name. Megan (who is the ''born'' cub of the four) of course addresses Sirius and Aletha as her parents.

* In ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere'', Anna calls her foster mother "auntie". Towards the end when she suddenly addresses her with "mother".

** Fanfic sometimes take on the issue of how Twilight and Spike view each other. It is a sort of Parent/Sibling/Assistant relation. Official material seems to have settled on "Assistant" and he calls her "Twilight" in-show. In fanfic just about anything goes.

A character is taken in by a ParentalSubstitute of some sort, usually of a more permanent variety such as an official foster parent or step parent, and they're considering calling them "mom" or "dad" despite the lack of biological connection. Agreeing to call them "mom" or "dad" will lead to a perceived level of closeness than simply calling them by their first name, but also may lead to the protagonist feeling like they're shunning their birth parents, [[YouAreNotMyFather who is definitely not the person raising them]]. It typically causes the protagonist tons of {{angst}} and is a handy device for exploring the familial dynamics between the characters.

* Strangely averted in ''Series/TheGoodPlace''. After Jason marries Janet, he has no problem referring to Michael as "Dad", despite the fact that a) Michael is opposed to the marriage due to Janet being meant only as a search engine in human form, and b) he is not Janet's father.

* Strangely averted in ''Series/TheGoodPlace''. After Jason marries Janet, he has no problem referring to Michael as "Dad", despite the fact that a) Michael is opposed to the marriage, and b) he is not Janet's father.

* On ''Series/SirensUS'', after Cash starts dating Hank's mom, he tries to get Hank to start seeing him as a father figure, suggesting several possible affectionate term that he could use.

* On ''Series/{{Roseanne}},'' David lives with the Conner family for a long time, during which he calls Roseanne "Mrs. Conner." In one episode, he admits to thinking of her as his mom, which she finds sweet; he asks if she'd like him to actually call her "Mom," and after a moment of thought, Roseanne quips that she'd rather her own kids call her "Mrs. Conner."

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'', Roberta and Rollo refer to Cleveland by his first name, while Junior more respectfully refers to Donna as "Miss Donna."
* On ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb,'' Phineas and Candace refer to their stepfather, Lawrence, as "Dad." Ferb would presumably refer to Linda as "Mom" or "Mother" [[TheQuietOne if he talked enough for this to ever come up]].

* In ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere'', Anna calls her foster mother "auntie". A CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming ensues towards the end when she suddenly addresses her with "mother".

* ''Literature/TheHaunting'': Barney and his siblings always refer to their stepmother by her given name. [[spoiler:Them calling her their mother is a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming for the book]].

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': Greg, Peter and Bobby call their stepmother, Carol, "Mom" immediately; likewise with Marcia, Jan and Cindy, they address stepfather Mike as "Dad." (Indeed, the concept of stepmother and stepfather was downplayed, only referred to in a couple of episodes during the first season, and by the end of that first season, its as though they had always known Mike and Carol as "Mom" and "Dad.")

** Luke's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute/adopted sister Sky on the other hand, calls Sarah Jane by her first name. The series was [[CutShort canceled due to the untimely death of the lead actress before it could be farther explored as to why]].

* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'': We never see a flashback epiosde about how they arrive at this, but Mike calls his mother-in-law "Ma" (as does his wife/her daughter) while he usually calls his father-in-law by his given name, though there was one episode in which they were drunk he addressed Archie as "Dad", with no repercussions.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' "Earth Mover", Terry's friend Jackie addresses her legal guardian Bill Wallace by name. Noticing her friends' confusion, Jackie clarifies that Bill simply took her in after her father Tony disappeared. Bill for his part doesn't seem to mind this one bit [[spoiler:possibly due to lingering guilt over his role in Tony's accidental "death" and covering it up]]. After the harrowing events of the episode, Jackie finally accepts Bill as her new father and calls him "Dad".

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': Greg, Peter and Bobby call their stepmother, Carol, "Mom" immediately; likewise with Marcia, Jan and Cindy, they address stepfather Mike as "Dad." (Indeed, the concept of stepmother and stepfather was downplayed, only referred to in a couple of episodes during the first season, and by the end of that first season, its as though they had always known Mike and Carol as "Mom" and "Dad."

* In [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2391 this]] ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' strip, socially-awkward Noah struggles with what to call his adoptive guardian Mr. Raven, who had recently admitted he considers Noah to be family. Noah previously called Raven "Sir" despite the latter not liking that.

* While not a problem in the canon, it's a fairly popular story device in the PhineasAndFerb fanwork community that Candace originally refused to recognize Laurence as her dad at the beginning of their relationship before moving into the DaddysGirl relationship she has with him in present day.

* According to supplementary material in ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'', it took a while before Fate could comfortably call Lindy "mother" instead of just "Lindy". ''Reflection'' (taking place about six months after her adoption) has this as a minor subplot, [[spoiler:and she manages to make the switch after Lindy saves her from Levi's CoupDeGrace.]]

* In ''Manga/MagiLabryrinthOfMagic,'' Alibaba seems to have never quite come to terms with meeting his birth father; even when he gets a vision of his dead parents, he starts to say "Father" but then switches to "[[spoiler:Previous King of Balbadd]]."

* In ''Manga/MagiTheLabryrinthOfMagic,'' Alibaba seems to have never quite come to terms with meeting his birth father; even when he gets a vision of his dead parents, he starts to say "Father" but then switches to "[[spoiler:Previous King of Balbadd]]."