why do we call our parents mum and dad

[Liza B]

I know it sounds like a daft question but my son asked me this question and to be honest I do not know why or where the names and variations come from.
I just accepted that is what you call your parents and not by their first names.
Can anyone shed dome light on this questions?
cheers x

[jno]

generally the first noises a baby makes are ma-ma-ma-ma, and the second ones da-da-da-da. So they get attached to the first two people in its life. This is pretty much true of most languages, I think.

[lafrancaise]

Well, maybe depends on which country you're born in for the second part but nearly all (if not all) languages for mother starts with an 'M' and as jno says ma ma are usually the first two sounds to be pronounced. The father or Dad bit changes according to languages but it's due to the mother talking to the child that they pick up Daddy, Papa or whatever.

[Quizmonster]

Actually, 'dad; has been around for a lot longer than 'mum'. Both words have been used in English - in one form or another - since the 15th century. The 'mama/dada' versions are just a reduplication of a sound that babies make instinctively, as answers above indicate. In the case of 'mama', it is used in virtually all countries where the proper word for 'mother' begins with the 'm' sound, as in French, German etc.
The actual form 'dad' is far older than the form 'mum', since the former has been around for half a millennium and the latter has existed only since the early 1800s. (As 'mam', however, it's been around for as long as 'dad'.)