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Honorary Uncle

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"Now, I need to say that he's not actually my uncle. For us Italians, anyone who's allowed to take off his belt and hit you with it you have to call uncle."
Santo Cilauro, The Late Show (1992) (Australia)

Your parents' True Companions, though not actually related by blood or marriage, are your uncles and aunts. Conversely, if you're very young, your True Companions' uncles and aunts are likely to be yours as well, through contagion, and their parents may be uncle and aunt to you. Actual blood relatives don't count, even if they're second-cousins-three-times-removed or some such distant relationship merely simplified to "uncle/aunt".

It goes without saying that they're all guaranteed to qualify for Cool Uncle (or Creepy Uncle) status.

This trope is used only in the context of a stronger relationship; as a rule, it would not be surprising to discover that an Honorary Uncle was named as the guardian, if something happened to the parents. This trope does not cover cultures where all older adults are addressed as "Uncle" or "Aunt" — only those with special relationships.

In a Babies Ever After ending, the unmatched characters may fall into this role, so they have a place in the Happy Ending.

A frequently sardonic invocation is for a character to be referred to, or refer to himself, as "Uncle" to indicate a friendly relationship that nevertheless has elements of authority.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
Note: In Japanese, the words for Uncle/Aunt (ojisan and obasan) respectively are the same words as middle-aged man/woman. Please make sure that it is this trope before adding an example.
  • Bakuten Shoot Beyblade: The last chapter of the manga features the cast some twenty years in the future. Takao has a son named Makoto. Kai has a son named Gō. Rei and Mao have a daughter named Lin. Max and Kyōju are childless still, but Makoto regards them as their surrogate uncles.
  • Boruto:
    • Chocho calls Temari "Aunt Temari". Chocho's teammate Shikadai is Temari's son.
    • Subverted with Boruto and Sarada. Despite possibly being Childhood Friends and their parents being True Companions, they don't refer to each others parents this way, Sarada refers to Naruto as "Seventh Hokage" and Boruto addresses Sasuke formally as "Sasuke-san". Boruto only refers to Sakura once as "Aunt Sakura" and Chouji as "Uncle Chouji".
    • Himawari begins calling Kiba "Uncle" after meeting him in episode 93.
  • In the CLANNAD ~After Story~ Recap Episode, Tomoya Okazaki refers to Youhei Sunohara as "Uncle Youhei."
  • Dragon Ball Z:
    • Goten sometimes addresses Vegeta as "ojisan" (either "uncle" or "mister," depending on context) despite there being no blood between them. This is likely due to his being best friends with Trunks and the fact that Vegeta was probably the only prominent adult male figure in Goten's early life. This was not maintained in the American dub, however.
    • Also, Gohan to Krillin who is one of his father's closest friends. He even calls him "uncle" at least once.
    • In the original Japanese Gohan consistently refers to Piccolo as "Piccolo-san," (roughly, "Mr. Piccolo," which is Gohan's usual form of address for him in the English dub). However, Gohan once refers to him as his "big green uncle" in the English dub, and he is called "Uncle Strangehead" in the Malaysian dub.
  • Fairy Tail: the human Natsu Dragneel was the adopted son of the dragon Igneel. Later, when the dragon Atlas Flame learns of their relation, he ceases his attack on Natsu and joins his side, because Igneel was his best friend. Natsu starts calling him Uncle.
  • In Fate/Zero, Rin and Sakura Tohsaka refer to Kariya Matou as 'Uncle Kariya'. Kariya himself is the Unlucky Childhood Friend of their mother Aoi, and loves Rin and Sakura like (and secretly wishes) they were his own daughters. Kariya becomes Sakura's adoptive uncle before the start of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
  • In Fruits Basket, Kisa, who is 12 years old when she first appears, calls Hatori, Ayame, and Shigure Sohma "Grandpa" (in the English sub of the anime, although it should be "Uncle") or "Oji-chan" (in the English sub of the manga), despite their being only 15 years older than she is.
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed and Al refer to the Doctors Rockbell, Urey and Sara, as "Aunt and Uncle Rockbell." They're not related to the Elrics in any way, but since they are Winry's parents, they are still close. They also refer to Pinako Rockbell (Urey's mother) as "Granny"; she's an old friend of their father's, and the closest thing the boys have ever had to a grandmother of their own.
  • One pivotal scene in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society shows Batou and the Major are the honorary Uncle and Aunt to Togusa's daughter. While investigating the Big Bad behind a series of murders and child kidnappings, Togusa is brain-hacked into taking his daughter to where they want him to. As he fights to keep control of his own body, he tells his daughter to run, as he's about to blow his own brains out. Batou's been following them, hears the gun shot, thinks he's too late, and gives the girl a hug to comfort her. Then, the see The Major (in thermoptic camo) pulled the gun away from Togusa's head at the last second. She turns visible again as she lays the semiconscious Togusa on the floor and smiles at Batou and the girl. Togusa's daughter's behavior around both Batou and The Major suggests she not only met both of them before, but also trusts them.
  • Gokusen: Pretty much every leader of a Yakuza friendly with the Ooedo Clan seems to act like this for Kumiko, having known her since she was a little girl. This is also one of the main reasons why the leader of the Nekomata Group knew how absolutely screwed his Organization would be if any of them found out that one of his members kidnapped her.
  • Henkyou no Roukishi Bard Loen: Joulran is the son of Lady Aidra, with whom Bard Loen was good freinds with in her childhood, so he considers him effectively being his grandfather.
  • Extremely Squicky example in His and Her Circumstances: Asaba becomes so much this trope from even before the kids are born that Yukino teases Soichiro that he's almost like a second husband and father. The Squick comes in when it's revealed that their daughter Sakura is his "soul mate".
  • In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency, Joseph Joestar calls his deceased Grandfather's best friend "Uncle" Speedwagon, considering him just as much a part of his family as his Grandmother. The moment he deduces that Straizo killed him to become a vampire, Joseph pulls a Tommy Gun out of Hammerspace and fills Straizo with lead in retaliation, before shedding Manly Tears at his passing.
  • Kaiju Girl Caramelise: Koutarou Hibino, Rinko Akaishi's old colleague when they were traveling biologists, is like an uncle to Kuroe. He's one of the few people she feels comfortable interacting with, the only person besides her mother and Manatsu to be on a First-Name Basis with her, and he's the one who helped her become a Metalhead. He's also the only other person besides Rinko to know about Kuroe's emotion-triggered Involuntary Shapeshifting (though he has yet to figure out that said shapeshifting has gone so far as to turn her into a Kaiju).
  • Hayate Yagami from Lyrical Nanoha refers to Gil Graham, a friend of her father, his cover story while using her in his plan to fill and then seal the Book Of Darkness, who supports her, as "Graham-oji-san".
  • The girls of Minami-ke have a relative, Takeru, whom they call oji-san ("uncle" in this context). At one point they realize they've forgotten what his actual relation to them is, so Haruka calls someone else in the family to ask; turns out Takeru is technically their cousin, but he's a good ten years older than any of them, and he takes his surrogate-uncle role seriously. At one point we see him grilling the unfortunate Fujioka about his interest in Kana.
  • My Hero Academia: Two Heroes: Melissa Shield refers All-Might as Uncle Might, since her father David was All-Might's partner during the latter's work in America.
  • In My Monster Secret, multiple Grandkids from the Future join the cast in the series' second half, further complicating the Love Dodecahedron. In one chapter, Yuka refers to both Asahi as "Grandpa" and Shiho as "Grandmother". Shiho is distraught since Asahi is dating Youko and she can't believe she'd ever do something as despicable as stealing her best friend's boyfriend. Thankfully, Yuka quickly clarifies that Asahi is simply an Honorary Grandfather to the younger members of La Résistance, and that they're not actually blood relatives.
  • Reborn! (2004): Yuni addresses Reborn (who happens to know both her mother and grandmother) as "Reborn-ojii-sama". Tsuna is understandably shocked.
  • In Saiyuki, in one of Hakkai's versions of the future he mentions Gojyo will be his children's uncle.
  • SPY×FAMILY: Franky reluctantly finds himself assuming this role for Anya, often being the one left to watch over her and Bond whenever Loid needs him to. Despite constantly complaining about it he seems to actually enjoy it. Doubles as something of a Development Gag as Franky was originally envisioned as being a part of the family during the planning phase for the series.
  • In X/1999, Kamui calls his best friend's father "uncle." This led to some confusion among fans as to whether Kamui and Fuuma were cousins (they're not).

    Comic Books 
  • Astro City:
    • After Quarrel broke up with MPH, he did find a wife who was a better match for him, and Quarrel became "Aunt Jess" to their kids.
    • The female superheroines of Honor Guard are this to Hummingbird II, as they are friends of her mother. They offer her support, training, and advice, especially in matters that she doesn't feel comfortable talking to her mom about.
  • Batman: The Pre-Crisis Huntress Helena Wayne (who is the daughter of the Batman and Catwoman of Earth-Two) regarded her world's counterpart to Chief O'Hara as an honorary uncle, with O'Hara fondly remembering that he gave Helena her first teddy bear when she was a child. In addition, Helena frequently referred to her father's Earth-One counterpart as "Uncle Bruce" during the team-ups between the Justice League and the Justice Society.
  • Captain Marvel: Carol Danvers is this to Spider-Woman's son Gerry Drew to whom she is also his godmother.
  • Disney Ducks Comic Universe:
    • In many (albeit not all) stories, Donald's nephews call his girlfriend "Aunt Daisy."
    • In Italian Scrooge McDuck comics, Scrooge's New Old Flame Glittering Goldie has a granddaughter who jokingly calls him "Granddad." A-hem...
  • In Earth 2: Society, Dick Grayson's son John refers to Huntress as "Aunt Helena".
  • When Thanos first meets his granduncle, Uranos, in Eternals:Heretic, they are hostile mutually. By the end of their conversation they start to see similarities between them and form something of a bond, so much that Thanos refers to him as "grandfather".
  • In the Fantastic Four, Franklin and Valeria Richards, Reed and Sue's children, call Ben "Uncle Ben"; Ben is even Franklin's godfather (and Frank's middle name, Benjamin, was given in honor of Ben, Reed's best friend since college). Spider-Man has also become one of these over the years, thanks to being more and more ingrained in the family. The way he's taken over Johnny's spot has been compared to an uncle moving in to look after everyone following a death in the family. Also, their nemesis Doctor Doom is also the official godfather of Valeria and was even the one who named her due to helping Sue give birth to her. The FF has always been just as much a family as a team, so this makes sense.
  • Kaiju Dayz: Preytara the giant mantis is an honorary aunt to Junior and Pestania, spoiling them whenever Big Mama is tough on them.
  • Shazam! has "Uncle Marvel," or Uncle Dudley. He was originally a Lovable Rogue who tried to exploit the Marvel family but developed a soft spot for them, becoming their Team Dad. Eventually he was Ret Conned into being Billy's actual uncle, however. In the post-Crisis Power of Shazam series, he was the janitor at Billy's school, but Billy only ever called him "Mr. Dudley".
  • Uncle Chuck to most of the cast in Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics). He's even this post-reboot to Sonic when he once actually was his uncle, as Sega has mandated that characters originating from the games can't have familial relations in the comic.
  • Sabrina the Teenage Witch: In the earlier comics, Sabrina only called Hilda and Zelda her "aunts": technically they were her mothers, since they accidentally created her from a magic potion. The TV sitcom, as well as later comics and adaptations, retconned them into her actual paternal aunts, however.
  • In Star Wars: Poe Dameron, L'ulo L'ampar serves as this to the main character.
  • Superman:
    • Superman often acts as this to the various Robins, in particular Dick Grayson.
    • In Post-Crisis comics, Lana Lang acts as an aunt to Supergirl, letting her move to her apartment and looking after her when nobody else did. Kara, for her part, not only refers to her as "Aunt Lana" several times but also uses the "Linda Lang" alias.
    • Perry White, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet had died of cancer (from his cigar smoking) by the time of the 1969 story Superman & Batman: Generations, but Lois Lane mentions him as having held this role for her and Clark Kent's daughter Kara.
  • Arsenal's daughter Lian of Teen Titans refers to all the other Titans as either "Aunt ____" or "Uncle ____".
  • Splinter, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage), is Shadow Jones' Honorary Uncle, a title he shares with retired superhero "Stainless" Steve Steel. Shadow also collectively refers to the turtles as her uncles.
  • TRON: Ghost in the Machine (follow up to TRON 2.0, Alternate Continuity to TRON: Legacy), Jet Bradley refers to "Uncle Kevin's" trip into cyberspace. An in-game email says that Kevin is Jet's godfather.
  • Valhalla: Loki (somewhat unwillingly) to Thor's children — when they are old enough to talk, they even call him "Uncle Loki."

    Comic Strips 
  • In Cathy, Cathy's friend Andrea encouraged her daughter Zenith to call Cathy "Aunt Cathy" — and when Cathy's mother came to visit, she was declared "Aunt Grandma."
  • In Mallard Fillmore, a baby thinks that his uncle really thought he had pulled off the baby's nose and had in it in his hand; he really hopes that it's just an honorary uncle and not a blood connection.
  • In Strizz, Irmi's mother is as an aunt to Raphael, the main character's young nephew.

    Fairy Tales 
  • In Asbjørnsen and Moe's The Blue Belt, the boy wins over a troll by calling him grandfather.
    "Good evening, grandfather!" said the lad.
    "Well, here I've sat three hundred years," said the man who sat on the bench, "and no one has ever come and called me grandfather before." Then the lad sat down by the man's side, and began to talk to him as if they had been old friends.
    • Both this and the above Indian tale probably stem from being polite: while in Standard English the polite way to address an older person would be 'sir' or 'ma'am', in many other languages it's preferred to call them as if they're a relative. The moral is, be polite or monsters will eat you.
  • In the Indian fairy tale The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead, the boy keeps a Rakshasi from eating her by addressing her as this.
    [He], approaching the place where the Rakshasas were prowling about, called out, “O auntie dear, O auntie dear, your nephew is here.” A huge Rakshasi came towards him and said, “O, you are the youth with the moon on your forehead and stars on the palms of your hands. We were all expecting you, but as you have called me aunt, I will not eat you up."
  • In The Three Aunts, the women agree to help the heroine in return for this.
    "Well, never mind, child," said the old woman. "If you'll call me Aunt on the happiest day of your life, I'll spin this flax for you, and so you may just go away and lie down to sleep."
    • The Three Spinners also want this.
      She complained of her trouble, and then they offered her their help and said, "If thou wilt invite us to the wedding, not be ashamed of us, and wilt call us thine aunts, and likewise wilt place us at thy table, we will spin up the flax for thee, and that in a very short time."

    Fan Works 
Ace Attorney

Avatar: The Last Airbender

  • Leave Your Spirit: Katara and Aang's kids grew up seeing Zuko as "Uncle Zuko". Unbeknownst to Kya, Zuko is her biological father.

Bloodborne

  • Childhood's End: The Gascoigne daughters refer to Djura and Eileen as Uncle Djura and Aunt Eileen. This is because the Gascoigne household was a meeting place for older hunters, and quite a few of them have become more or less family to them.

Bridge to Terabithia

  • Bridge to Terabithia 2: The Last Time: In the Distant Epilogue, after Jess and Leslie becomes a married couple with two children, Jess's college best friend Jake Elliots ends up as the godfather and honorary uncle to Jess's children, due to Jess having no brothers while growing up, with Jess naming his son Jake Jr. after his friend of the same name.

Crossover

  • Avengers: Infinite Wars;
    • Events begin when over half the Avengers are displaced from Earth all over the Galaxy Far, Far Away, which leads to such twists as Wanda Maximoff becoming the guardian to Dathomir girls Meerin and Illyana after their mothers are killed, and Natasha Romanoff essentially adopts the infant Mara Jade. When Earth makes contact with the Galaxy Far, Far Away, Clint Barton is quick to "introduce" himself to Mara as her Uncle Clint, and it's suggested that he'd be happy for Merrin and Illyana to see him the same way.
    • During the Spider-Verse arc, Peter Park’r- a version of Spider-Man born in the Galaxy Far, Far Away and trained as a Jedi from a young age- mentions that in his reality, Count Dooku never fell to the Dark Side, to the extent that Park’r considers Dooku an uncle figure from his time in the temple even before Obi-Wan Kenobi took Park’r as an apprentice.
  • The Bridge:
    • Ki Seong is considered Gentle Leaf's aunt because she is best friends with her parents.When she was shipwrecked on Equestria's shore, they found her and she spent time living with them to help raise Gentle Leaf.
    • Princess Celestia was this to the children of Princess Platinum, as Platinum was a close friend who took her in to Canterlot after the Nightmare Moon incident. Celestia has been the "aunt" since to all of Platinum's descendants, all to way to the modern Prince Blueblood.
  • Croft and Son (Devil May Cry & Tomb Raider): Sam is pretty much this to Nero, despite not calling her his 'aunt'. She is shown to be easier for Nero to talk than Lara, and raised him whenever Lara left for work, and she is his godmother though.
  • Harry Tano: When Harry's parents were still alive, they had him refer to Remus and Sirius as Uncle Mooney and Uncle Padfoot, respectively. Because he was so young, however, he remembers them more as "Unca Mooey" and "Unca Pa'foo".
  • Kyon: Big Damn Hero (Haruhi Suzumiya & TV Tropes; author Died During Production): Kyon and his sister consider Keiichi, Rika, Rena, Mion, Shion, Satoko and Satoshi as their aunts/uncles, despite only being related to the former two.
  • The Many Dates of Danny Fenton:
    • Danny's children in the actual ending refer to Tucker and Velma as their uncle and aunt.
    • In the fifth alternate ending, Danny and Kim's daughter, Annie, regards her mother's old friend as "Uncle Wade".
  • In The Rigel Black Chronicles, the Marauders are like brothers (except Peter, who's estranged); Harry freely calls Archie her cousin and refers to Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus. Sirius actually is blood-related to the Potters, albeit more distantly, but Remus isn't.
  • Star Trek: Phoenix (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic & Star Trek): Inverted. Belle Hendricks, the psychiatrist assigned to care for Sunset and Twilight, is a close friend of their adopted mothers and, due to the significant amount of time she spent helping the two fillies adjust to their new lives, eventually came to see them as adoptive nieces.

CSI-verse

  • Pops up a lot in CSI: NY fics involving the Danny/Lindsay pairing and their daughter Lucy. There's a lot of Lucy and "Uncle Don" and "Uncle Mac" and "Aunt Stella" and sometimes others like Sheldon or Sid get into it as well. Prime example: CTI-Jenn's "Wrong Place, Wrong Time" and "Begin Again" duo. (can be accessed through author page at the same link.)

Danganronpa

The DCU

  • The Next Best Thing to Normal: Jason calls Poison Ivy "Aunt Pam" (as her real name is Pamela). He knows that she's not actually his mother Harley's sister, but she's still Aunt Pam anyway.

Dragon Age

  • Skyhold Academy Yearbook: Several examples exist in the series, with the most prominent one being "Uncle Dorian." He gets the rank because he's the honorary brother to certain characters, and therefore their children call him this.

Dragon Ball

  • What if Nappa Turned Good?: Nappa surprisingly enough becomes this to Gohan and especially Goten, after swearing to protect and serve the Son family, after Goku saved his life.

Emergency!

  • Any fic with Roy's kids will have them calling Johnny their uncle. Occasionally it can extend to the other guys too, depending on the writer.
    • This series has Roy tell his kids it's a privilege to call John this, and a couple of times, Chris misbehaves, angers Roy and John, and has to ask John if he can call him this again.
    • Lost and Found, and its sequel, have Roy and Joanne adopting John's infant daughter after he is kidnapped and presumed dead. Then, John is found alive. John is encouraged to bond with his daughter, though Roy once makes a mistake and calls John Uncle Johnny in front of her. In the sequel, Roy tries to get the baby to call him Uncle Roy as John begins taking her place as her father, but she won't have it, and they end up becoming Poppa Roy and Mama Joanne.

Fate/stay night

Fusion Fic

Harry Potter

  • Seven Favours For Harry Potter: Lady Vidia is a friend of Hagrid's mother, but he consistently calls her "Auntie Vidia." He also refers to as Lady Vidia's daughter Jenny as his cousin, and the two essentially treat each other as cousins despite not being related by blood.

Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life

  • Frostbitten Flower: Subverted. When Cassie was an infant, others disapproved of her calling Marlin "dada" and tried to get her to call him "uncle". Cassie never liked the word and doesn't feel it applies to her Parental Substitute Marlin.

The Hunger Games

  • The End of the World: Earl Bates' grandchildren refer to his fellow victor (and presumed mentee) Kate Markez as "Aunty Kate".

Marvel Cinematic Universe

  • In born of hell('s kitchen), Matt and Jessica's work (Foggy and Karen) and superheroics (Luke, Danny, Claire and Colleen) partners are introduced to their son as such and obviously love him as a blood nephew. It makes for an interesting contrast with Trish — who is Peter's legal aunt yet not acknowledged as such due to her current difficult relationship with Jessica.

Miraculous Ladybug

  • There's multiple fics out there where Jagged Stone declares himself this trope to Marinette, with Moving On being just one example.
  • Scarlet Lady: The Hero's Day episode reveals that Lila has four parents: her biological mother, her father, her stepmother, and her bio-mom's best friend. The latter is Lila's godmother, and she takes an active role in raising Lila despite not being related to her by blood or marriage.

MonsterVerse

My Little Pony

  • The Mane Six (and the now older Cutie Mark Crusaders) also become this to each other's children in the Bride of Discord Verse.
  • In The Elements of Friendship, Twilight refers to King Leo of Aquastria, Celestia's cousin, as "Uncle Leo".
  • The Oranges in The 'Verse of Life in Manehattan insist on their friends calling them Auntie and Uncle.
  • Slice of Velvet and Pear
    • Both Twilight Velvet and Pear Butter are this to each other's respective children in this universe, as they are as close as sisters themselves. It actually get discussed after Applejack explains to Twilight Sparkle that she's like family to them, with Pear Butter herself chiming in that Twilight's like a daughter to her. But she supposes niece is a better word for it.
    • Twilight claims to be this to Spike, who's a ward of Moon Dancer in this universe. Which both Spike and Moon Dancer agree to.
  • In Windfall, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity are all referred to as the aunts of Fluttershy and Big Macintosh's foal.

Nicktoons Unite!

Pokémon

RWBY

  • Relic of the Future:
    • In the past, Ruby and Yang refer to the time-traveling, 20+ year old Jaune as Uncle Jaune after he becomes a close family friend.
    • Jaune's adoptive daughter in the past, Emerald, in turn refers to Ruby and Yang's parents as Auntie Summer and Uncle Taiyang once she warms up to them.

Star Wars

  • Limpet AU: Ben refers to all of his father Luke's former squadmates (Wedge, Hobbie, Tycho and Wes) as uncles. Mara later adds Piett into the roster, to the latter's horror — although by the end of the story the Admiral doesn't seem to mind too much being called "Unca Peet".
  • In Precipice, Obi-Wan, Rex, and Ahsoka are all Anakin's long-time friends and have been close to him for years and all of them are considered by Leia to be her uncles (Obi-Wan and Rex) and aunt (Ahsoka), with her addressing them as such. On Padme's end, Luke often addresses Bail Organa, one of his mother's closest long-time friends, as "Uncle Bail".

''Tangled

  • Light of the Moon: Varian refuses to call Gothel "Mother", so they compromise and he refers to her as "Aunt/Auntie Gothel". An inversion, as Varian is being forced to refer to Gothel as a parental figure (as she kidnapped him from Quirin and is forcing him to go along with whatever she says under threat of his father's death). Gothel only agreed to being referred to as "aunt" instead of "mother" because the only other suggestion Varian made was "grandmother".

Transformers

  • In Black Crayons, Ironhide is basically this to Annabelle Lennox, certain Decepticons learning the hard way that a good way to earn Ironhide’s wrath is to go after that girl.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

  • The Merry Go Round Broke Down: Freddie was named after the Flintstones character because Fred saved his dad's life. As a result, Freddie calls Fred "Uncle Fred".

Unsorted

  • Ace In The Hole (Persona 5): Kaito and Miyuki Arisato, Minato and Yukari's twin children, view the rest of the SEES as their honorary aunts and uncles. And when Makoto starts dating Ken, they are quick to refer to her as their aunt.
  • As a child in Back to Zero, Jessie refers to Cyrus and Giovanni as her "uncles". Cyrus has no relation to Jessie while Giovanni is secretly her father.
  • In Fate/Sunny Order: Arturia is an honorary aunt to Ritsuka and Kana, having helped raised them alongside their parents Shirou and Rin. When Kana summons Arturia in Chaldea, the former is estactic that the latter remembers the twins.
    • It's later revealed that Taiga and Luvia were also Honorary Aunts for the twins, with Luvia helping the twins sneak into Chaldea in the first place.
  • In Ginny Weasley: Double Life, when Milikan joins Ginny while Ginny's feeding the infant Lily, Ginny 'introduces' her Mistress to her daughter as 'Auntie Milikan' and Milikan is touched at the introduction.
  • In the WWE AU story, The Horsewomen Of Las Vegas, Charlotte Flair considers Arn Anderson, one of her father's most trusted advisors, as this.
  • In The Legend of Genji, Mako has a daughter named Rin who considers his close friend Asami to be her favorite "aunt".
  • In the Naruto Fan Verse Path Of Needles, the younger generation consider their parents' friends as their "aunts" and "uncles".
  • Son of the Sannin:
    • Ino's father Inoichi is said to be like an uncle to Shikamaru and Choji due to their three clans having been close allies for generations (and it can be presumed that this also applies to her mother and their parents as well). After Inoichi ends up being killed in the Uchiha coup, Shikamaru and Choji are both mentioned to be crying just as hard as Ino during the funeral.
    • The narration directly uses the term when referring to Haku's relationship with Zabuza and Mei's eldest daughter, and he presumably has this role for her five younger siblings as well.
    • It's implied that Fu is an honorary aunt to Naruto and Hinata's children as well as Kiba and Tamaki's daughter given how she gets upset when informed that Boruto is away on a mission while she's in the village for the Ninja Summit. They in turn appear to have this role for her and Shino's children.

    Films — Animated 
  • In Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's friends Wayne, Murray, Frank, and Griffin serve as uncle figures to Mavis. She also refers to Wayne's wife as "Aunt Wanda". Likewise, Wayne and Wanda's werewolf pups call Dracula "Uncle Drac".
  • Incredibles 2:
    • Dash refers to family friend Lucius (aka Frozone) as "Uncle Lucius".
    • Superhero costume designer Edna Mode quickly bonds with baby Jack-Jack and declares herself his "Auntie Edna."
  • In the final scene of Lady and the Tramp, Lady and Tramp's puppies call Trusty "Uncle Trusty."
  • The Pelekai sisters of Lilo & Stitch, Lilo and Nani, treat the extraterrestrial Jumba Jookiba and Wendy Pleakley as their respective uncle and aunt figures (even though the latter alien is male), allowing the two to move in with them when the two aliens are exiled to Earth after the climax of the film. This is especially seen throughout Lilo & Stitch: The Series, with the aliens helping their niece figures and vice versa.
  • In Shrek the Third, when Fiona announces her pregnancy to Shrek, as well as everyone else, Donkey is elated that he's going to be an "uncle" (in contrast to Shrek, who is absolutely terrified about becoming a father). He is later seen playing with the triplets, regularly bringing his own children over for playdates.
  • In Sleeping Beauty, Aurora addresses her three foster mothers — Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather — as her "aunts." They're actually her fairy godmothers, but she doesn't know that for a long time.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Aunt Maggie from Child's Play isn't really Andy's aunt. She's a close friend and co-worker to his mom.
  • Creed: Adonis Creed, son of the late Apollo Creed, starts referring to Rocky Balboa as "Unc" shortly after they meet. Rocky's a little confused the first time it happens but quickly accepts the term.
  • In Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Edgin's daughter Kira is taken in by Forge when he and Holga are arrested after a heist gone wrong. Forge actually did a fairly good job taking care of Kira during the two years Ed and Holga were imprisoned, to the point that she calls him Uncle Forge.
  • "Old Wen" from Eat Drink Man Woman is an Honorary Uncle to Chu's three daughters, to the point of being visibly shocked upon hearing of his death.
  • In Finding Neverland, the Llewelyn-Davies boys call James Barrie "Uncle James" and "Uncle Jim" after he befriends them and their mother. Given Barrie's personality, though, he's more of an honorary big brother.
  • In the live action film of The Flintstones, an anguished Pebbles cries out "Wake up, Uncle Barney!" after Barney is knocked unconscious. It's not like we shouldn't believe that this was the case in the series, though; Barney and Fred have been friends since fifth grade.
  • In Kontroll, Bulcsu the ticket inspector calls Bela the train driver "Uncle Bela." They are obviously not relations, because Bulcsu doesn't know that the young woman in the bear suit is Bela's daughter.
  • Donna's best friends are Auntie Tanya and Auntie Rosie to her daughter Sophie in Mamma Mia!.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Clint Barton's kids call Natasha Romanoff "Auntie Nat", and she interacts with the Barton family as though she and Clint have been siblings all their lives.
    • In Black Panther, Zuri has this relationship with Erik Stevens/Killmonger while "helping" Killmonger's father N'Jobu smuggle vibranium out of Wakanda under the guise of an American named James. Because T'Chaka killed N'Jobu in order to save Zuri's life, Erik considers Zuri a traitor to him and his father, a point he makes clear when he bitterly calls Zuri "Uncle James" before killing him.
    • In Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau calls Carol Danvers, her mother Maria's best friend, "Auntie Carol".
    • In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Cassie Lang has grown close enough to the Pym/Van Dyne family that she calls Hank Pym "Grampa Hank" (and presumably Janet Van Dyne "Grandma Janet"). Hank and Hope Van Dyne have been working with Cassie on her Quantum Realm research, giving Cassie her own size changing suit, and are aware of some instances of her getting in trouble and being thrown in lockdown that Scott didn't know about.
  • In Midwinter Night's Dream, Lazar falls in love with Jasna and becomes close to her daughter Jovana, so he refers to himself as Jovana's Uncle Lazar.
  • The movie On Our Own is about a group of orphaned children trying to make it to their uncle's house. It's revealed later in the movie that he isn't actually their uncle, but a family friend—which complicates their quest in finding someone to take care of them.
  • In the The Santa Clause series, there probably isn't a more exact term for the relationship between Scott and Lucy, who is the daughter of Scott's ex-wife by her second husband. The Calvin/Miller family seems to have decided that this trope is the simplest solution. Lucy addresses her half-brother's father as "Uncle Scott", and they share an affectionate bond. The nature of Scott's place in the family is reinforced in the third film; in an alternate timeline, Scott never becomes Santa Claus, the status of his relationships with Charlie and the Millers goes from rocky to distant, and while Laura and Neil still have Lucy, Lucy addresses Scott as “Mr. Calvin” to his dismay.
  • In Smokey and the Bandit, Cledus' children refer to Bandit as "Uncle Bandit", much to their mother's chagrin.
  • In The Sound of Music, the seven Von Trapp children call their father's friend Max "Uncle Max" at their father's encouragement.
  • The film Spy Kids features Uncle Felix, who is really a bodyguard assigned to the family. Subverted in the sense that, before he reveals the secret life of their parents as spies, the kids really thought he was their blood uncle.
  • In Super, this is Frank's consolation prize when Sarah leaves him and has kids with somebody else; but he's at least happy with it and moves on with his life..
  • In the film version of The Who's Tommy, the mother's second husband asks Tommy to call him Uncle Frank. Whether or not he considers him as such (Tommy is mute through most of his life) is another matter.
  • A Wedding (1978): Briggs calls his former school roommate's mother "Aunt Regina."

    Literature 
  • L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables:
    • Marilla has Anne call her "Marilla" and not "Aunt Marilla". However, when Anne has children, she's "Aunt Marilla" to them. In fact, many extended families in Montgomery's stories are like this — just ask the Murrys of New Moon or the Leslies of Cloud of Spruce. No matter what your relationship to a member of the older generation, they are "Aunt" or "Uncle." Special cases, however, merit "Cousin" no matter what the age of the person — such as Cousin Jimmy, who "isn't all there."
    • Anne's children also call Diana Wright "Aunt Diana." She's not a relation, of course, but she's been close friends with Anne since they were both eleven.
    • Davy Keith, a distant cousin of Marilla who was raised by her following his mother's death, also gets called "Uncle Davy" by Anne's children.
  • In The Belgariad, Garion always called Polgara "Aunt Pol" growing up. Technically, she's his infinite-great-aunt, but it still applies. He still does in informal situations in the Mallorean; Ce'Nedra (his wife) uses the name for her at one point near the end, a sign of how their relationship has changed. In turn, Polgara refers to the sorcerer Beldin (who helped raise her) as "Uncle Beldin" — when she isn't flinging (well-returned) insults at him.
    • In one of the prequels, Polgara comments that most little boys she meets call her "Aunt Pol". Granted, a good number of them are her great-nephews (Garion's ancestors).
  • Bridget Jones's Uncle Geoffrey is actually a close friend of her parents'.
  • The Cat Who... Series:
    • Gender-inverted — starting in book #5 (The Cat Who Played Brahms), Qwill refers to Fanny Klingenschoen as Aunt Fanny, as he has done since childhood; she's actually his late mother's best friend, and considers him her godson. This is why she leaves him her estate of roughly $4 billion.
    • Qwill considers himself to be something like this to Liz Hart, whom he meets when he saves her life on Breakfast Island after she is bitten by a deadly snake. A later book notes that because of that connection, he takes a sort of "godfatherly interest" in the young woman's well-being and activities. When she dies in a car accident in book #28 (The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell), he is deeply saddened.
  • Isaac Asimov's The Complete Adventures of Lucky Starr: Councilmen Conway, Henree, and Lawrence were all good friends. The three men were so close that as a child, David sometimes got confused and called his father Uncle Lawrence, too. After Lawrence Starr and his wife died when David was four, the other two men adopted David and raised him to be as awesome as his father would have been.
  • Discworld:
    • Although Esmerelda Weatherwax is often called "Granny Weatherwax", there's something more significant about Tiffany Aching being told she can refer to her by that title in A Hat Full of Sky (especially since one of the themes of The Wee Free Men was the loss of her actual Granny Aching). Not that having Esme as an Honorary Grandmother is easy...
    • The "character refers to self as 'uncle' to indicate a friendly relationship that nevertheless has elements of authority" variation appears in Monstrous Regiment, since Mal is wiser and (probably, being a vampire) older than the rest of The Squad: "Here's a happy little dream from your Uncle Maladict..." Mal also addresses a squadmate as "kid".
  • A Mind Screw version in Dragaera. Devera calls Vlad "Uncle Vlad". The thing is, Devera is the not-yet-born daughter of Vlad's Dragaeran friend Aliera, and the father is Aliera's long-dead ancestor Kieron. As Vlad is the reincarnation of Kieron's brother (and Aliera is the reincarnation of their sister), he might be Devera's literal uncle as well. Devera also refers to Aliera's cousin as "Uncle 'Rollan," which probably qualifies as honorary. Well, unless it's because Morrolan, by pledging his soul to Verra, almost qualifies as Aliera's stepfather as well—Verra calls him "beloved," after all. Like we said—Mind Screw.
  • In some of the later Dragonriders of Pern books, Masterharper Robinton is the honorary grandfather of Menolly and Sebell's children.
  • Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files:
    • In Dead Beat, when Harry insists on speaking to Luccio alone, Ramirez tells the other young Wardens, "We have to go sit with Uncle Morgan while the other adults have a serious talk."
    • A straighter example would be Harry to Michael's kids. Which is kind of creepy considering Molly's one-sided crush on Harry...
  • In Rebecca Lickiss's Eccentric Circles, Aelvarim refers to "Grandmother Dickerson."
  • The Famous Five:
    • In Five go to Smuggler's Top, the Famous Five's friend Sooty is kidnapped with George's father. In his desperation to talk to somebody, Sooty wonders what to call him, not knowing his surname; then he remembers that George's cousins call him Uncle Quentin, so Sooty does too.
      Sooty: I hope you don't mind me calling you that, I don't know your surname.
    • In Five go off in a Caravan, Nobby refers to Tiger Dan as his uncle Dan, but reveals later that he is not actually his uncle.
    • In Five have plenty of Fun, George's mother tells the visiting girl Berta to call her Aunt Fanny.
  • In Fengshen Yanyi, nearly all of Jiang Ziya's disciples refers to him as an uncle with pride. King Wu, meanwhile, considers him a foster father.
  • In Fire and Hemlock, Tom Lynn, a completely unrelated adult friend is this to the protagonist. When she suggests she could call him "Uncle Tom", he points out that that would have Unfortunate Implications, and recommends that she reads the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin to understand why. He doesn't seem to have a problem with being a honorary uncle as such, though. The protagonist develops a crush on him, which he tries to gently discourage; he needs her friendship but has moral scruples about their relationship turning into a romantic one.
  • In Dan Abnett's Warhammer 40,000 Gaunt's Ghosts novel First & Only, Ibrim Gaunt's father's commander featured as his "Uncle Dercius".
  • Goblins in the Castle:
    • The end of "The Stinky Princess" reveals that Princess Violet and Prince Bindlepod ended up marrying and having children. Their kids all treat Bindlepod's frog companion, who taught them how to swim, as an honorary uncle.
    • In the final chapter of Goblins on the Prowl, when Fauna regains her memories of her original identity, she also remembers that she used to refer to the sorcerer Edrick, a family friend, as "Uncle Edrick".
  • By the time Scarlett marries Rhett in Gone with the Wind, her son Wade has been calling him "Uncle Rhett" for years.
  • The Great Brain: Aunt Bertha is an unrelated widow who lives with the Fitzgeralds.
  • In the Hannah Swensen books, Hannah's niece Tracey calls Hannah's two boyfriends "Uncle Mike" and "Uncle Norman." This sometimes makes Hannah uncomfortable, because she's not ready to marry either man yet.
  • In Heidi, Heidi's grandfather is called "Uncle" by the villagers; this is later picked up by Heidi's friends from the city, too. Heidi's Aunt Dete (her actual mother's actual sister) said her family started it because they knew he was a distant relation of theirs, but couldn't quite recall what it was and wanted to be friendly to him; this was before Adelheid, Heidi's mother, married his son and had Heidi. He's often referred to as "the Alm-Uncle."
  • InCryptid: The Price-Healy family have many honorary aunts and uncles:
    • Mary Dunlavy, a teenage ghost girl who's served as the family babysitter for three generations. Some of the Aeslin mice even call her the Phantom Priestess, indicating they see her as a full member of the family.
    • Rose Marshall, another ghost girl, is also called "Aunt Rose".
    • Mike Gucciard, whose family have been friends with the Price-Healys since the 1930s, is an "uncle" Verity calls for help when the rest of her family is on the other side of the country. He even has an Aeslin title, the High Priest of Goddammit Eat Something Already.note 
    • Big Al, a jink living in Las Vegas, is another honorary uncle, and is present for Verity and Dominic's Vegas wedding.
    • Fran grew up in the Campbell Family Circus (later Carnival), and her best friend Juniper Campbell is called her "sister in all but blood". She later becomes an honorary aunt for Alice, and after Fran dies, Juniper's daughter Laura is like a cousin to her (and an aunt to her children and grandchildren).
    • After seeing how his father treats him, Annie decides their odd neighbor James is coming home as an honorary sibling.
    • After spending 7 years Trapped in Another World together, Thomas seems to see Sally as a surrogate daughter.
  • In L. M. Montgomery's Jane of Lantern Hill, Little Aunt Em is this to everyone — Jane's father can't even remember which of her husbands was second and so what her legal name is. There's also Uncle Tombstone, whose real name is Tunstone, and who is described as not having a niece or nephew in the world.
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs begins John Carter of Mars by describing how Carter has a Direct Line to the Author, recounting his first meeting:
    I was then a child of but five years, yet I well remember the tall, dark, smooth-faced, athletic man whom I called Uncle Jack.
  • Journey to Chaos: Annala calls Hasina "Auntie H" because Hasina and her mother have worked closely together for longer than she's been alive. This means Hasina goes Mama Bear for the girl whenever her actual mother (and her best friend) is not present.
  • The Juvie Three: Deputy Chief Delancey and Roxanne's father are close enough friends for her to call Delancey Uncle Mike.
  • In C. S. Lewis's The Last Battle, Eustace reveals that all the younger Friends of Narnia call the elderly Polly Plummer "Aunt Polly." Professor Digory Kirke is always "The Professor," though.
  • The Last Dogs: At the end of the quartet, Rocky the dachshund and Gizmo the Yorkshire terrier have a litter of four puppies. Their friend Max (a Labrador retriever and the main POV character) had already declared that Rocky and Gizmo are like family to him, so he becomes an uncle to these pups, who call him "Uncle Max".
  • In the later Left Behind books, Buck and Chloe have a son. Tsion Ben-Judah, one of the people who lives with them, is called "Unca Zone".
  • At the end of A Little Princess, Mr. Carrisford tells Sara to call him Uncle Tom after he adopts her.
  • In Dorothy L. Sayers' Gaudy Night from the Lord Peter Wimsey series, Saint George solicits permission to call Harriet Vane "Aunt Harriet" because she knows too many of his secrets. He doesn't get it. (But then she becomes his real aunt.)
  • In the Miss Marple story " The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side", Inspector Craddock starts calling Miss Marple "Aunt Jane" — which he doesn't in any of the other books he's in.
  • In The Mortal Instruments Clary Fray considers Luke Garroway to be like an uncle since he's been around her whole life.
  • The Mouse and His Child lets the mouse adopt their helpful friends the Frog, Kingfisher and Bittern, and even the villainous Manny Rat, now repentant, and toothless as honorary uncles.
  • In Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, Mme. Padva was Tante Padva to Chadresh, when he was a child.
  • In Seanan McGuire's October Daye novels,
    • Toby is "Auntie Birdie" to a whole family of children.
    • In Late Eclipses, she remembers how Sylvester was "Uncle Sylvester" and her Parental Substitute, and Raysel calls Oleander "Auntie", spitefully, while thanking her for her help and killing her.
  • Philip Carey becomes "Uncle Phil" to (most of) Thorpe Athelny's children in Of Human Bondage.
  • The One and Only Bob: Ruby, who's a young elephant calls Bob, who's a dog, "Uncle Bob", and Ivan, who is a gorilla, "Uncle Ivan". What's more, Ivan is considered an honorary uncle by all the young gorillas in his habitat.
  • At the end of John Barnes's One for the Morning Glory, Sir John is explicitly described as acting as a honorary uncle to Amatus and Calliope's children.
  • In The Phantom Tollbooth, after Faintly Macabre has told Milo and Tock her story and about Rhyme and Reason, she tells them they may call her Aunt Faintly.
  • The Poster Children: Mal, Marshal, Ernest, Rosario, and Libby's parents are all friends and they call each other's parents either "Auntie" or "Uncle." The exception being Mal and Marshal's father, Corbin Underwood, (who was estranged when alive) and in Marshal's case, Amira, who started out as an Honorary Aunt but became his stepmother, even calling her Mom after she marries Corbin.
    • Ernest frequently refers to Roz and Mal's moms as "the Aunties" and when Zip first met Mal, she heard him talking to Ernest's dad and calling him "Uncle John." When she comments she didn't know The Commander was his uncle, he clarifies that it is "a familiar term, not a literal one."
  • In Rose in Bloom, the sequel to Eight Cousins, Rose adopts an orphan child she names Dulcinea (Dulci for short), who calls her "Aunty Wose."
  • In RWBY: Roman Holiday, Hei Xiong Senior is business partners with Jimmy Vanille and frequently visited the man's manor. He was very kind to Jimmy's daughter Trivia and regularly brought her books as gifts. Trivia deeply appreciated "Uncle Hei's" presents because he recognized her love of stories compared to the gifts her parents showered her with that she cared nothing for.
  • In Angie Sage's Septimus Heap books, Aunt Zelda is not only an aunt to all the Heap boys, and Jenna, who was raised as her niece, but to Wolf Boy as well.
  • In Jo Walton's Half a Crown from the Small Change trilogy, Elvira refers to her adoptive father as "Uncle Carmichael".
  • In Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, narrator/protagonist Lily overhears Snow Flower addressing their chaperone the matchmaker informally as "Auntie", assumes this trope is the case, and imitates the form of address to beg for sweets. In a later chapter, Snow Flower admits that the matchmaker really is her aunt. Later, when Snow Flower is dying, her last request to Lily is that she become this to her children. She agrees.
  • Southern Vampire Mysteries: Sookie is known as Aunt Sookie to Hunter, who is actually her cousin once removed. In narration, she notes that where she lives, one typically calls any relative of an older generation "Aunt" or "Uncle" regardless of what their specific relation is.
  • Michael Flynn's Spiral Arm series:
    • In Up Jim River, Zorba is the harper's honorary uncle. The Fudir finds this small comfort in view of the Living Legend status of the man.
    • In On the Razor's Edge, the harper is told to listen to her "Auntie Gwen."
  • In the Star Wars novels, both the Skywalker and Solo kids refer to Lando Calrissian as "Uncle Lando."
  • Sidney Carton becomes one of these to Charles and Lucie's children in A Tale of Two Cities
  • In the Teenage Worrier series, Letty mentions that some divorced parents ask their children to call the parent's new partner "Aunt" or "Uncle."
  • In P. G. Wodehouse's Thank You, Jeeves, Bertie admits that he's always regarded Jeeves less as a valet and more as "a sort of uncle".
  • In C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, Orual calls the Fox "Grandfather."
  • In Wen Spencer's Elfhome from the Tinker series, Chloe tries to talk Tinker into talking, urging her to confide in "Auntie Chloe." Given she's a reporter, this just puts Tinker's back up.
  • In Tamora Pierce's Trickster's Duet, Aly calls all the main characters of the first two Tortall quartets "Aunt" and "Uncle" (except, obviously, for her the ones who are her parents, and Daine's animals.)
  • In Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga books, Miles Vorkosigan called Simon Illyan "Uncle Simon" until he entered the military, and his "Aunt Alys" is technically his first cousin once removed by marriage. Cordelia is also viewed as an honorary aunt to the Koudelka sisters.
  • In Wearing the Cape novel Small-Town Heroes, Atifa calls them "Aunt Hope" and "Aunt Jacky" after a trip to the beach. Later, a figure from the future reveals that this is going to develop.
  • In Wet Magic, the siblings' Aunt Enid is actually their grandmother's friend. They dislike her because she's much stricter than any of their real aunts.
  • While My Pretty One Sleeps: Anthony della Salva is known as "Uncle Sal" to Neeve Kearny; he's been one of her father's best friends since childhood and has known Neeve all her life. Sal took Neeve under his wing after her mother died, nurturing her interest in fashion and encouraging her to open her own boutique when she graduated, even loaning her the down payment for the store. She is very fond of him, visiting him at his office for weekly catch-ups and getting advice from him, while he dotes upon her. This makes it especially shocking and heartbreaking for Neeve when she goes to him for help out of fear of her life, only to realise that he's the one who put a hit on her and killed her mother.
  • In A Wrinkle in Time, Meg Murray gives one of the faceless tentacled aliens from planet Ixchel the nickname "Aunt Beast," because the alien was her caretaker for a time but "mother" is far too close and personal a title.
  • In Zenobia July, Zen's aunts' friend Sprink tells her to call him Uncle Sprink.

    Live-Action TV 
  • On Ahsoka, Hera Syndulla's son Jacen refers to Sabine Wren as "Aunt Sabine".
  • American Horror Story:
    • Though Sister Jude of Asylum never had any children of her own, Kit's children affectionately called her "Nana".
    • Used again in Coven, where Cordelia refers to Myrtle Snow as Aunty Myrtle.
  • Arrested Development had Uncle Jack. "And remember, he's not really their uncle!"
  • On Awkward., Jenna's mother's best friend, Ally, is her honorary aunt. Subverted in that Jenna and Ally can't stand each other, and Jenna dislikes having to refer to her as Aunt Ally.
  • The Bernie Mac Show exemplifies the sardonic take on this trope. Bernie and his wife Wanda take in his blood nieces and nephews when his sister goes into rehab; he's their blood uncle. However, he invokes his having taken on the role of surrogate parent, adapting the fifth commandment in order to demand respect and obedience from the children "(Honor thy mother and thy father... figure."). One segment of the pilot episode is even called "Uncle Daddy".
  • Female example in Charles in Charge: The children and Charles' best friend Buddy Lembeck all referred to Charles's mother as 'Aunt Lillian'. In-Universe, this was a show of respect and affection, but the practical reason for it was so the writers could maintain their running gag of not revealing Charles' last name.
  • As described by Coach from Cheers, he once received an invitation for a family reunion... from the wrong family. Coach being Coach, he attended anyway to be polite. And apparently the family, who were to his surprise black, took to him. He's even hosted a few of the reunions since.
    Sam: They call him Uncle Whitey.
  • In Criminal Minds, Hotchner's son Jack calls David Rossi "Uncle Dave".
  • Private Pike in Dad's Army refers to Sergeant Wilson as "Uncle Arthur". In this instance, it's because Wilson is in a relationship with Pike's widowed mother. Interestingly, Word of God suggests that Wilson is actually Pike's biological father.
  • Day Break (2006): Nick Vukovich, Brett's father's former partner, is affectionally known to the Hopper family as "Uncle Nick". This is because Nick felt a bit guilty about killing him, and stayed close to his partner's family to, in his mind, make up for it at least somewhat.
  • In Dinosaurs Robbie, Charlene, and Baby refer to Earl's best friend, Roy, as "Uncle Roy" in several episodes.
  • Inverted in Doctor Who when the Fourteenth Doctor proudly proclaims Donna's daughter Rose to be his "favorite niece." In the very same scene, he also declares Melanie Bush to be her "Mad Auntie Mel".
  • Discussed in Elementary when Joan contemplates adoption. Her Platonic Life Partner Sherlock wants to help her raise her child, which is why Joan suggests having her child call him "Uncle Sherlock". Sherlock says that he'll accept "Detective," but Joan doesn't like that. Sherlock playfully replies that "Uncle Detective" would also do.
    • Also invoked at the precinct. Joan's son Arthur calls Marcus "Captain Bell", but Marcus keeps telling him to call him "Uncle Marcus" instead.
    • In season five Kitty Winter returns from England with her baby son in tow. Kitty quickly refers to Joan as "Aunty Watson", which Joan happily accepts.
  • In Frasier, Roz refers to the Cranes as "Uncle Frasier," "Uncle Niles," and "Aunt Daphne" when talking to her daughter Alice.
  • In Friends, four of the other five main characters are honorary aunts and uncles to Ross's first child, Ben, born at the end of the first season. (The lone exception is Monica, who is Ross's sister and therefore Ben's actual aunt.) Presumably, the same principle holds up when Monica and Chandler become parents near the end of the series.
    • There's one episode where Rachel is delighted to be "fun Aunt Rachel" to Ben, and Rachel herself often refers to Joey as "Uncle Joey" around Emma. Conversational Troping begins when a horrified Monica speculates that her and Chandler's kids will think of Janice as an aunt.
    • In another episode, Phoebe learns Ben is in the same class as Sting's son and uses this knowledge in an attempt to score tickets to one of Sting's concerts. When she shows up at the boys' school, Ben exclaims, "Aunt Phoebe? What are you doing here?"
    • When the gang learn that Rachel and Ross are expecting a baby together, Phoebe and Joey gleefully declare themselves aunt and uncle to the baby which Rachel agrees with. Monica reminds them that they're honorary and she's an aunt by blood, and says it so often it starts creeping everyone out. Chandler has just married Monica so he's a direct uncle and not honorary.
  • Joey from Full House is the childhood best friend of Danny Tanner. Despite not being related to the family, he acts as an uncle to the kids of the house. Joey usually handles the day-to-day raising of the kids by doing chores like making meals, driving the kids to school, appointments, and after-school activities, taking care of Michelle as a baby, and helping the kids with their homework. Danny's daughters only call him "Uncle Joey" a few times in early episodes; the exact nature of his position in the household is discussed in one first-season episode in which he attempts to discipline DJ, who resents it. He also becomes their Uncle Jesse's best friend, and Jesse insists that his children call Joey "Uncle Joey" as a sign of respect.
  • On Girl Meets World Shawn is this to Riley and Auggie. Considering his relationship with their father Cory, who sometimes seems to love his best friend more than his wife Topanga, it's a given.
  • There's an episode of The Golden Girls in which Dorothy's goddaughter is getting married. She calls her "Aunt Dorothy," which is not unusual. It's taken to a weird length, however, when Blanche appears and the young woman calls her "Aunt Blanche," despite there being absolutely no indication that Blanche even knows her.
  • On Hannah Montana, Dolly Parton is "Aunt Dolly" to Miley and Jackson, in addition to being Miley's godmother in real life.
  • On Hawaii Five-0, Steve is this to Danny's daughter Grace, a fact which is openly acknowledged.
    Danny (to Grace): We love Uncle Steve very much but he knows nothing about baseball.
  • In Heroes Fanon, it is generally accepted that Claire knew Claude, her father's old partner, as "Uncle Claude". This was also mentioned on the commentary for the episode "Company Man".
  • In How I Met Your Mother, Future Ted regularly refers to the other characters as Aunt Robin, Uncle Barney, Uncle Marshall, and Aunt Lily when talking to his kids. This led to a lot of Wild Mass Guessing (more so in earlier seasons, before several possibilities got Jossed) as to whether any of them would, by the end of the series, actually end up related by some sort of Tangled Family Tree or Double In-Law Marriage situation. Especially notable since Ted doesn't refer to his actual sister as Aunt Heather, just as his sister.
  • During JAG's first season, Lt. Meg Austin could get hard-to-acquire information from her Uncle Ollie. The character was played by Oliver North, formerly a Lt. Colonel in the US Marine Corps who was (in)famous for his involvement in the Real Life Iran-Contra Affair in the 1980s.
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Amanda Rollins is this to Olivia Benson's adopted son Noah, and specifically referred to this way in "Chasing Demons."
    "Okay, so, Noah, Auntie Amanda is gonna take you to school, and Lucy is gonna pick you up."
    • In "Gone Baby Gone", Dominick "Sonny" Carisi and Rafael Barba are referred to as Noah's Uncle Sonny (by Olivia) and Uncle Rafa (by Noah himself). Carisi is also "Uncle Sonny" for Rollins' daughters, but skews much closer to Parental Substitute than Honorary Uncle, particularly after the season 22 finale.
    • In an early episode, Elliot Stabler refers to John Munch as "Uncle Munchie" while talking to two of his kids.
    • In a non-main character example, a few episodes have a child victim with a family friend they call "Aunt" or "Uncle" who ends up being important to the story in some way.
  • In Ms. Marvel (2022), Kamala addresses all her mother's friends from the mosque as "Auntie". One of the mosque's cliques is a group of women that she's nicknamed "The Illumin-aunties". This is typical of Pakistani and Indian culture, where one is expected to address one's elders as "Auntie" or "Uncle" as a gesture of respect (which has hilariously led to the terms taking on a derogatory meaning of "stupid old person I don't actually respect" among the younger crowd).
  • In NCIS, Gibbs serves as honorary uncle to Fornell's daughter by their mutual ex-wife. Ducky serves as honorary grandfather to Palmer's daughter Victoria (who was named after Ducky's mother).
  • One Tree Hill: Jamie Scott has a small army of honorary aunts and uncles, including Karen (the mother of Jamie's (real) Uncle Lucas), Brooke (Jamie's godmother), and Skills and Mouth (both good friends of Jamie's parents and godmother).
  • Power Rangers Samurai: Bulk (yes, Bulk) to Skull's son Spike.
  • The Bordelon siblings from Queen Sugar consider their aunt's boyfriend Hollywood to be part of the family, even during their temporary break-up.
  • In Red Dwarf, Rimmer seems to think he'll be this after Lister gets pregnant in an alternate universe.
  • Saturday Night Live:
    • Early seasons had Buck Henry as Uncle Roy, who gets... a little too friendly while babysitting for his "nieces" (he is a friend of their mother's).
    • Later on, there's the Weekend Update guest character, Drunk Uncle. He's somebody's uncle, but it's never specified whose; he just shows up drunk and opinionated.
  • In the A Song of Ice and Fire series, Dagmer is this to Theon. (It is completely averted in Game of Thrones, where Dagmer is a younger, utterly treacherous psychopath.)
  • In The Sopranos, the mob guys are all honorary uncles towards their associates' respective children. Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti are the most prominent example: as Christopher is Tony's protégé, Tony always refers to him as his "nephew", even though he's actually Carmela's cousin.
  • Star Trek:
    • On Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, when Kira Nerys becomes a surrogate mother for the O'Briens' second child, Miles and Keiko invite her to stay with them until the baby comes. At one point, their daughter Molly asks Kira, "Are you my aunt now?" Miles just grins and says, "Sounds right to me." Later episodes have Molly calling her "Aunt Nerys".
    • Star Trek: Voyager: Neelix acts as an honorary uncle to Naomi Wildman as well as the Borg children during season 6.
  • Supernatural: Bobby Singer is definitely Sam and Dean's honorary uncle, considering that he's been a better father figure to them (especially Dean) than their own father ever was. He's also the one who told Dean (in the Season 3 finale): "Family don't end with blood, boy."
  • Referenced in Shane's graduation speech in Weeds where one of the groups he named in the introduction was "...people we call aunts and uncles but really aren't..."
  • In one episode of Who's the Boss?, when Angela's college roommate comes to town for their reunion, she thinks Jonathan is absolutely precious and asks him to call her "Aunt Trish."

    Music 
  • In The Who's Tommy, we have Uncle Ernie, who is likely Tommy's uncle (or uncle-in-law in The Movie version, according to Pete Townshend). He becomes honorary later, however, when he apparently becomes a counselor at Tommy's Holiday Camp; he refers to himself as Uncle Ernie to a group of people who are most likely children.

    Podcasts 

    Professional Wrestling 

    Theatre 
  • Uncle Tadpole in Bran Nue Dae, although subverted at the end, when it turns out he is Willy's father, much to everybody's surprise except Willy's mum.
  • In The Importance of Being Earnest, the main character's ward Cecily affectionately calls him "Uncle Jack."
  • In Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Roo and Barney have been spending their summers at the same boarding house for nearly two decades. Bubba, the young woman who lives in the house next door, has grown up with them as a regular on-and-off part of her life, and considers them honorary uncles.

    Video Games 
  • In Ace Attorney, the untimely death of Mia, Phoenix's mentor, leads to him becoming close friends with her little sister Maya and much younger cousin Pearl. Thereon, they have Phoenix accompany them on trips that require a chaperone over the age of 20, and stay at his office whenever they need a break from their lives in Kurain Village. And long before he met any of the characters mentioned above, he dated another member of the Fey Clan in college. It's just his fate to get involved with that family.
  • In Beyond Good & Evil, Jade refers to Pey'j as "Uncle," even though they're obviously not related. (Being different species and all.) He's actually more like her godfather.
  • Dragon Age II has a few examples:
    • Aveline, who is generally the Team Dad of Hawke's crew, sort of functions as an honorary aunt for Hawke and (during Act 1 at least) their surviving sibling. She's implied to be a few years older than Hawke, and actively works to ensure the family's safety while they're working to secure a source of income for themselves. She even goes so far as to sleep on their doorstep some nights. When Hawke's mother Leandra dies in Act 2, Aveline grieves like a member of the family, being the companion who has known Hawke the longest and having been very fond of Leandra herself.
    • Hawke admits in Act 3 that they've come to see Bodahn Feddic as a member of their family and that, no matter what, Bodahn and his son Sandal always will have a place in their home.
    • Alistair was raised by Arl Eamon (Bann Teagan's brother) despite not being related to him, which (depending on how Alistair appears in the game) may lead to...
      Alistair: And this is Teagan, my uncle. Sort of.
      Teagan: I'm actually Teagan, I'm only "sort of" his uncle.
      • To clarify: Teagan and Eamon are the brothers of Alistair's late father Maric's late wife Rowan. Alistair was born a few years after Rowan died, the result of another relationship Maric had. Alistair is in no way related to his father's wife, let alone her younger brothers, but Teagan treats him like a nephew all the same. Teagan's actual nephew, Alistair's half-brother Cailan, has long since been killed in battle.
  • Dragon Quest V: Sancho looked after his mater Pankraz's son and grandchildren, and all of them called and treated him as their surrogate uncle.
  • In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, at the conclusion of Sanguine's quest chain, the daedric prince cheerfully refers to himself as "your old Uncle Sanguine." It's sort of a mix between this trope and the metaphorical truth; Sanguine being one of the Daedra, he is something like a half-brother to the Divines (Aedra). These include Akatosh, the god of time, who is the one who gave the Dragonborn their draconic soul and is therefore their "father."
  • Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion: Scrooge McDuck tells Mickey Mouse to call him "Uncle Scrooge" when Mickey saves him.
    Scrooge: Any best friend of my nephew Donald is an honorary nephew of mine.
  • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade: Nino calls several characters "Uncle", usually in reference to "Uncle Jan", a NPC member of the Black Fang who was kind to her during her time there. This has mixed results - Merlinus agrees to take Jan's place for a bit, while Legault initially despairs at being called an uncle when he's still in his twenties, but eventually accepts it. Ironically, she doesn't talk about Jan at all to Canas, who is very heavily implied to be her real uncle.
  • In Gears of War the surviving members of Delta Squad have taken this role to protagonist James 'JD' Fenix. He refers to Cole and Baird as 'Uncle' in casual conversation but drops the honorific in serious situations.
  • God of War: In God of War (PS4) and God of War Ragnarök, both Mimir and the brothers Brok and Sindri act as uncle figures to Kratos' son, Atreus, after his mom passed away, giving advice, telling stories, and serving as a counter-balance to Kratos' more disciplined and distant parenting. Atreus even tells a friend that Brok and Sindri are "kind of [his] uncles", and later tells Mimir he was like a second father to him.
  • Golden Sun:
  • In Grand Theft Auto V, Trevor Phillips is this to Michael's kids. They're very fond of him and in return he's quite protective of them, stating that ever since Tracey sat on his lap when she was two years old, he swore that he would tear the skin off of the face of anyone who wronged her.
  • In the Grim Tales series, this basically describes protagonist Anna Gray's relationship to many of her so-called relatives. The fact is that quite a large number of the family members she assists in her work, most of whom refer to her as "Aunt Anna" or "Aunt Gray," aren't related to her at all - they're the relatives of her twin sister's husband. She is nevertheless treated like she's family by all of them, so she amounts to this trope.
    • The same series also has an unusual crossover example. It assigns this role to James Blackthorne, whom Anna's daughter Alice calls "Uncle James." James, however, isn't from the Grim Tales games — he's from Haunted Hotel, another series from Elephant Games. He and Anna make up two-thirds of the team in the Crisis Crossover series Detectives United.
  • In Guilty Gear, Sol Badguy is the long-time on-off friend and rival to Ky Kiske. In Overture, Ky's son Sin refers to Sol as "Oyaji" in the Japanese dub and "old man" or "pops" in the English dub, and prefers Sol as a Cynical Mentor over his father Ky. Sin is care-free, informal and occasionally foul-mouthed, much like Sol and in stark contrast to his prim-and-proper Knight in Shining Armor father, but because Sol half-asses everything, it's had a hugely detrimental effect on Sin's intelligence. Subverted after it was revealed that Ky's wife and Sin's mother, Dizzy, is actually Sol's daughter, which would mean that Sol actually has a grandson in Sin.
  • A variation in Guilty Party: Ling-Ling Johnson refers to Dorian and Olivia Dickens as "Grandpa" and "Grandma," despite the fact that they're actually her uncle and aunt (Ling-Ling's adoptive mother, Charlotte, is Dorian's sister).
  • I Was a Teenage Exocolonist:
    • Since the grown-ups take care of each other's kids, they call their friends' parents "uncle" or "auntie".
    • In the epilogue, Marzipan becomes a surrogate mom, despite her dislike for children, for novelty's sake, and becomes said child's "Auntie Marz".
  • Kula considers Maxima as this in The King of Fighters. While they're members of a True Companions group alongside K', his sister Whip, and Kula's caretakers Foxy and Diana, he isn't exactly pleased to be referred to as "uncle."
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: The Champions' Ballad DLC makes clear that Urbosa was one for Zelda, something that was only lightly hinted in the base game. Urbosa was a longtime friend of Zelda's mother, and after the latter's untimely death, the former made a point of looking after Zelda whenever the princess visited the Gerudo region. Urbosa's diary and the flashback to her recruitment make clear that she acted as The Confidant to Zelda and also appropriated the Queen's Affectionate Nickname of "little bird" for her. A scene in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity DLC further hammers the point in.
  • In Mass Effect 2, Tali considers Shala'Raan, a quarian admiral who was a friend of both her parents this, calling her "Auntie Raan", or "Aunt Shala." As a result of her relationship to the Zorah family, Raan is forced to recuse herself during Tali's trial, merely serving as a moderator to the admirals, but tells Tali that she has her support, and hopes Tali will be exonerated. While no attention is drawn to it, they have the same Character Tic of wringing their hands when nervous, so Tali may have gotten it from Raan.
    • In the third game, Tali considers Wrex to be this. Wrex seems to serve as the entire team's Honorary Uncle alongside Shepard's Team Dad. He even refers to himself as "Uncle Urdnot" a couple of times, although nobody finds this particularly impressive.
      Tali: You're like the crazy head-butting uncle I never had.
  • No Umbrellas Allowed:
    • Hanja mentions that Bukgu and his brother Bobnote  used to protect their neighbor Jane's son Wonsu from bullies when the latter was younger. He became distraught when Bukgu and Bob ran away, which made him spiral down emotionally and seriously consider getting himself Fixed, which is why Hanja trusts the protagonist to keep an eye out for Wonsu.
    • Eggie Yoon, the orphan girl who ran away from her Fixie parents, calls you "Uncle Bobby" if you befriend her.
  • In the Pokémon Sun and Moon video games, Trial Captain Acerola constantly refers to Nanu, Chief of Police and Kahuna of Ula'ula, as her uncle despite them not being related. The usually stoic and frowning Nanu doesn't seem to mind, suggesting Acerola acts like a Morality Pet of sorts to him.
  • Red Dead Redemption 2:
    • "Uncle" does not seem to be blood relatives with anyone in the Van Der Linde gang, yet that is still the name everyone calls him.
    • Jack Marston calls most of the adults in the gang “Aunt” or “Uncle” but really sees Arthur in particular as this.
  • In Return Of The Obra Dinn, we have It-Beng Sia, one of the Formosan royals aboard the ship, who has another Formosan royal, Bun-Lan Lim, as his ward, even calling her "Miss Lim". She even goes so far as to call him "Beng-suk" ("Uncle Beng"), making it possible to deduce his identity.
  • Shantae: Shantae has her Uncle Mimic, who was friends with her genie mother.
  • In Stardew Valley, Jas will start to call you "Aunt/Uncle [Hello, [Insert Name Here]]" if you increase your friendship level with her enough. There's also Marnie, who isn't actually Jas's aunt, but the aunt to Jas's legal guardian Shane. Despite this, Jas refers to her exclusively as "Aunt Marnie".
    • Vincent also uses "Aunt/Uncle [Hello, [Insert Name Here]]" at higher friendship levels.
    • After persuading Leo to move to the Valley and begin reintegrating with human society, he takes to Linus as a family figure and eventually calls him "Uncle".
  • Story of Seasons:
  • In Suzerain, Player Character President Anton Rayne is a childhood friend of his Vice-President, Petr Vectern. Petr is so close with the Rayne family, that both of Anton's children calls him "Uncle Petr".
  • In Triangle Strategy, Erador is this to Serenoa. Erador often affectionately refers to Serenoa as "lad" and mentions how he remembers watching Serenoa grow up, and Serenoa considers all of his father's retainers to be part of his family.
  • Albert from Uncle Albert's Adventures is only the uncle of the narrator's mother, but he's still known as "Uncle Albert" in the village he lives in.

    Webcomics 

    Web Original 
  • In the Camp Camp episode "Parents Day'', Space Kid's parents fail to make it; in their place, his cool and loving honorary uncle Buzz Aldrin shows up.
  • Critical Role: In the Echoes of the Solstice oneshot, Veth's son Luc calls the rest of the Mighty Nein "Uncle" or "Aunt". His Uncle Caleb is also confirmed to be his godfather.
  • Protectors of the Plot Continuum: Agents who rescue child bit-characters and place them in the Nursery (specifically set up to take care of such children) often become honorary Aunts and Uncles. One good example is Oscar Henson, one half of the Department of MPreg, whose job is to rescue the unnaturally existing MPreg-created babies, and was in fact warned by his mentor Trojanhorse that he was likely to end up "Uncle Oscar" to an increasing proportion of the Nursery's inhabitants over time. In general, agents become parents (or aunts/uncles for that matter) by adoption more frequently than by blood.
  • In RWBY, Qrow Branwen is Yang Xiao Long's maternal uncle, being in no way related to Yang's half-sister Ruby Rose. That doesn't stop them from having a close uncle-niece relationship and serving as Ruby's mentor who influenced her fighting and clothing style, however.

    Western Animation 
  • Archer: Archer has referred to Pam, who he's also called his best friend, as being aunt to his and Lana's infant daughter. In season 13, A.J. (now a pre-teen) refuses to refer to her as "Aunt Pam" as a way of establishing her boundaries. After a day of bonding, A.J. finally calls her "Aunt Pammy".
  • Bob's Burgers: Teddy is the closest thing to an adult friend that Bob and Linda have, and they even trust him to watch their kids whenever they go out of town. Teddy has even referred to the Blecher children as his temporary nieces and nephew, while they return the affection and like him after they bonded in the episode "Uncle Teddy".
  • In the second season of The Critic, Penny, the young daughter of Jay's girlfriend Alice, calls him "Uncle Jay."
  • Danny Phantom. Vlad Masters somewhat ironically insists on being called Uncle Vlad by his best friends' (one of which he hates and is constantly trying to kill, the other he has a stalkery crush on) children (again, one of which he hates and is constantly trying to kill when he isn't trying to make him his apprentice).
  • With a new arrival on the way, Dora the Explorer's best friend Boots is over the moon, excited by the prospect of being "a big monkey brother" to what turns out to be twins who are later revealed to be named Guillermo and Isabella.
  • DuckTales (1987): Scrooge McDuck tells Webby — the granddaughter of his grand-nephews' nanny — to call him Uncle Scrooge. Like in the comics, Gladstone Gander also calls him "Uncle" even though they're only distantly related by marriage (Scrooge's sister was married to Gladstone's mother's brother).
    • In the sequel to the video game, pretty much every character calls him "Uncle Scrooge" — even Launchpad McQuack and Gyro Gearloose. Launchpad also called him that in the first game, but only in the beta before the mistake was fixed. (Presumably, the sequel wasn't beta tested.)
    • In the 2017 reboot, Huey, Dewey, and Louie call their uncle's (and mother's) first cousin "Uncle Gladstone" for the first time (in all previous American material, he was always "Cousin Gladstone" to them).
      • For the record, he's Donald's cousin, and therefore would properly be the triplets' cousin-once-removed. Fethry is also Donald's cousin, but is saddled with "Cousin Fethry" because of his more Manchild tendencies.
      • The reboot also shows Donald's cousins Gladstone and Fethry addressing Scrooge as their uncle, despite being Donald's paternal cousins and therefore technically unrelated to Scrooge (whose sister was Donald's mother).
      • All of this gets lampshaded in the Season 1 finale when Scrooge's Arch-Enemy Magica De Spell has her niece Lena befriend Webby in order to infiltrate Scrooge's family so she can release her from imprisonment in Scrooge's #1 Dime.
        Scrooge: How?
        Magica: Why don't you ask your housekeeper's granddaughter's new best friend? (beat) You have a confusing family structure, you know that?
    • Like the original series, Scrooge allows Webby to call him Uncle Scrooge. When, in the Grand Finale, Webby finds out she's Scrooge's Opposite-Sex Clone, she upgrades him to 'Dad'. He's pretty elated about it.
  • Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures may not be any known character's biological uncle. Apparently, neither Jackie nor Jade nor anyone else in the family is entirely sure how he's related to them — or if he is at all! It doesn't help that, according to a time travel episode, he used "Uncle" as his professional nickname long before Jackie came to live with him.
  • Kaeloo: Stumpy refers to his best friend Quack-Quack as "Uncle Quack-Quack" when speaking with his little sister, Violasse.
  • Molly of Denali: Midge is called "Auntie" even though she is actually a grandmother. Justified in that it is used as a term of endearment for indigenous elders.
  • Over the Garden Wall has Auntie Whispers and Lorna; just the two of them live together and Lorna says Auntie Whispers isn't her actual aunt. Subverted because Auntie Whispers keeps Lorna in servitude through Mind Control, and Wirt actually seems to take them not being related as confirmation that Auntie Whispers just wants a slave. Double Subverted because Lorna is a victim of Demonic Possession, and Auntie Whispers is using Brainwashing for the Greater Good. Played straight after the demon is dealt with and Lorna chooses to stay with Auntie Whispers completely of her own free will.
  • The Owl House has Luz start calling Lilith her "Cool Aunt" in her journal halfway through the second season, having forgiven her for her misdeeds in the first season, and Lilith is both flattered and quick to return the sentiment by punching Philip in the face for unrepentantly endangering her. This, in turn, implies that Luz sees Eda as a second mother.
  • Rugrats:
    • Cousins Tommy and Angelica are related through their fathers. In an early episode, Angelica complains about having to stay with Tommy's maternal grandparents. ("They're Tommy's grandma and grandpa, not mine!") Of course, she ends up having a great time and happily calls her aunt-by-marriage's father "Grandpa Boris" in all future episodes.
    • Lou's kids and grandkids call his cousin "Aunt Miriam," although Angelica proudly declares she knows Miriam is actually her "great-aunt once removed" (close enough for a 3-year-old).
  • In Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, Alfred Pennyworth is Daphne's honorary uncle due to having helped the family in the past. She happily calls him Uncle Alfie.
  • As with almost all tropes, this one was parodied by The Simpsons.
    • When Moe and Marge are leaving for a convention, Bart asks, "Where're Mom and Uncle Moe going?" As Homer was worried they were having an "emotional affair", he replies, "He's only your emotional uncle, I'm your REAL uncle!"
    • Rod and Todd Flanders have been known to call Homer "Uncle Homer," which he's cheerfully accepted despite his complicated relationship with their dad. In the Whole Episode Flashback "Fland Canyon," an eight-year-old Bart calls Ned "Uncle Ned" in turn, to Homer's chagrin.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM): Tagalong Kid Tails calls Sally "Aunt Sally."
  • Inverted in the first season South Park episode "Volcano". When Stan's Uncle Jimbo spends some quality time with Kenny, he declares Kenny to be his honorary nephew.
    • In South Park: Post Covid, Cartman insists that his children to call Kyle "Uncle Kyle", but his infant son can only say, "Fuck you, Kyle." When he manages to say, "Fuck you, Uncle Kyle." Cartman considers it making progress. In South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid, Kyle's children happily call Stan "Uncle Stan" in the new future.
  • On Star Trek: Lower Decks, Admiral Les Buenamigo is a family friend to the Freemans, with their daughter Beckett calling him "Uncle Les". It makes sense, as "Buenamigo" means "Good friend" in Spanish. And then it turns out that Buenamigo isn't such a good friend — in fact, he's a full-on Insane Admiral.
  • Steven Universe: In "Gem Harvest," Steven meets his father's cousin Andy for the first time. He immediately tries calculating how they're related, correctly guessing it's "first cousin once removed", but Andy tells him not to worry about it and just call him "Uncle Andy." Although Andy initially has no love for the Gems, after being told they're Steven's mother's family, he refers to them with complete sincerity as his "aunts".
  • When Bart from Young Justice (2010) first meets the Garricks he refers to them as his "honorary great-grandparents," since they're the sort-of mentors of his grandfather. Word of God also says they hold the "uncle/aunt" role for Wally.

    Real Life 
  • Even if culture does not demand it, family friends of your parents' generation regularly come to be called "Uncle" or "Auntie", if only because it's easier to teach a child two words than a plethora of names.
    • In Russian culture, children refer to any adult as that.
    • Chilean writer Isabel Allende has stated in all of her biographies that she calls her stepfather Uncle, but that is partly due to the long tradition of attaching the honorific of Uncle/Aunt to every adult the age of one's parents regardless of filial relationship, and partly due to the fact that he and her mother weren't legally married (long story). Similarly, Salvador Allende was her (natural) father's cousin and thus actually "Uncle Salvador."
  • In Indonesia it's pretty common in casual settings, especially for the younger generations, to call middle-aged strangers as "om" (uncle) or "tante" (aunt).
  • Godmothers and godfathers are often referred to as Aunt or Uncle by their godchild and other children in the family. But then again, lots of families use an aunt or an uncle as godparents, so the two end up being interchangeable sometimes.
  • In Indian families, older unrelated women are often called "auntie" as a term of respect.
  • In Filipino family culture, close family friends are always given this honor, thus it is not surprising for children to call older people (about the same age as their parents) "Tito" and "Tita" (Uncle and Aunt respectively) or "Ate" and "Kuya" (older brother and sister respectively if the person being referred to looks like a teenager or a young adult) even if they are not related by blood. Calling total strangers "ate" or "kuya" is considered a sign of respect, equivalent to somebody referring to a stranger as "Sir" or "Madam."
  • Addressing a family friend as "Uncle" or "Aunt" is a given in Sri Lanka.
  • In many indigenous cultures, the term used for a father's friend is also "father". But in this case, it's also used for the father's brother.
  • This used to be common in the Netherlands, but lately the sense of formal speech in general is considered old-fashioned and elitist, and thus family-related titles like uncle, aunt, mom, dad, grandpa, etc. are considered old-fashioned as well.
  • This was apparently the case with Walt Disney himself, who reportedly insisted that the original stars of The Mickey Mouse Club call him "Uncle Walt".
  • In one of his Evening With DVDs, Kevin Smith says that his Heterosexual Life-Partner Jason Mewes is called "Uncle Jay" by Kevin's daughter Harley.
  • Director Mel Stuart's daughter approached him about making what would eventually become Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. She suggested that "Uncle Dave" (producer David Wolper) come up with the money for it.
  • Dhani Harrison, George Harrison's son, calls Ringo Starr "Uncle Ringo".
    • Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son, similarly referred to Keith Moon as "Uncle Keith".
  • Younger students in Brazil tends to refer to school teachers as "tio/tia (uncle/auntie)", especially at kindergarten, instead of calling "Professor/Professora" all the time. As they grow older, they start dropping the "auntie", especially if they have taken to disliking certain teachers or school in general.
  • Oscar Isaac's wife Elvira Lind has referred to Pedro Pascal as their sons' "Tio Pedro."
  • Bruce Lee's goddaughter Diana Lee Inosanto referred to him as her "Uncle Bruce".
  • Canadian musician David Foster is this for Robin Thicke, as revealed in one episode of season 6 of The Masked Singer. According to Robin, David had been best friends with Robin's father, Alan Thicke, since before Robin was born, and Robin has called him "Uncle Dave" for his entire life. Ironically, Robin was the only panelist to fail to guess that the Banana half of Banana Split was David!
  • Due to her Like Brother and Sister relationship with her ex-husband Henry VIII, Anne of Cleves was this to the future Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. Her actual relationship with Edward was friendly but somewhat distant, as he was much younger than his sisters, but she was very close with the two girls and with Elizabeth in particular.
  • Ming-Na Wen became an unofficial "auntie" to Kevin Tancharoen, who directed her on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Book of Boba Fett.
  • The Anoa'i wrestling family have been intertwined with the Maivia family for the better part of a century, when Ami Anoa'i and Peter Maivia became blood brothers. Despite Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson not actually being blood-related to Peter Maivianote  – let alone Ami Anoa'i – he and the rest of the are, for all intents and purposes, treated as cousins by and of the larger Anoa'i clan.
  • Men at Work frontman Colin Hay is this to Sia. Due to being a close family friend and a former bandmate of her father, Sia affectionately refers to him as "Uncle Collie".
  • Subverted during the 1960s and 1970s in the United States when divorced or widowed parents with frequently changing sexual partners would to force their children to refer to each one as "Uncle" or "Aunt" even when it was an obvious one-night stand, giving the term a bad reputation for a while. Fortunately, that habit has vanished over time to the point that few people other than historians remember it, but older movies will still feature the "hated interloper" insincerely labeled as aunt or uncle by the parent to the disgust of the children.

 
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Alternative Title(s): Honourary Uncle, Honorary Aunt, Honourary Aunt

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Uncle Slow

Rick Prime decides to use the Omega Device to kill all iterations of all of Rick's family members in front of him to teach him a lesson, then kill Rick himself afterwards. He "starts small" by doing this to Slow Mobius, who Rick considers him an uncle.

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5 (8 votes)

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Main / AndYourLittleDogToo

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