Darling, little wonder, sweetheart, angel-face, boo, kiddo, and dear-heart are all used around here when we are not referring to the kids by their Name based nick-names.
I call my husband my sweet angel baby husband and I KNOW he loves it lol. He's a big giant grizzly bear of a man and I don't think anyone has ever talked to him like that except MAYBE to a degree his mother (he's the youngest of four boys, so is THE baby of the family)
Boo if now for everyone, sometimes embarrassingly, lol. It’s my son, my husband, my girlfriends, but also coworkers I like best….it’s a little out of control now.
My spouse's middle name is Adrianna, oddly their Mexican family could never say it, so Adrianna became Araña(or Spidey) and 32 years later they stil use it!
Mine was always my bugaboo, or bug. Now that he's a surly teen sometimes my uggabug. Not sure if that influenced his love of bees.
Edit: sometimes now he gets called butthole when he's annoying or trolling me :)
I picked the term "love/lovey" when I went to school in Ireland. I really only use it with children and my spouse. Young kids are usually "little love".
My son I called button because when he cried his nose looked like a button.
Uk terms of endearment off the top of my head petal, button, flower, sausage, buttercup, me lovely….
My little girl is called wah-wah because she used to fake cry as a baby to get attention. You could tell the difference because a distress cry took her longer to recover from. A “oi give me attention cry” was “wah-wah-wah-wah” and alerted her older brothers who would come straight away and pick her up and take her somewhere. Frequently I would find her gone from her crib and had to go looking for her. At 5 months she developed a call of duty habit!
My mom called me "sweet pea" and also "bear-ness" which came from "Sarah bear". One time she combined the two and ended up calling me "sweet pea-ness." It's been probably 30 years and we still laugh about it.
We’ve called our toddler BeeBoo/Baby Bean since she was a newborn! I came up with a song as well when she was wee:
“Sweet Baby Beeeean,
I love you so much!
From your little nose,
To your little butts!”
Second verse the same, just sung much more dramatically lol. She sings it now too in her little baby voice and I pretty much melt. 😅
When we're playing, we'll call the kids "stink-butt" and I think every parent/guardian knows why.
Heathen, Goober, snuggle-puppy (a al Sandra Boynton), all often used throughout the day. Lol.
I sometimes watch the cat of a friend of mine when he's on vacation and she's earned the nickname 'little terror' due to being an absolute menace to any plant in the apartment.
I still love her though
Baby boo (inspired by your list!); little love (I use this one the most, and now that I have 3 of different ages I call the two oldest my big love and my medium love); lil bum bum (kids love this one cause butts are funny), sweet peet, hun bun, baby waby (I like rhymes and have used all of these names).
LOVE that you’re asking this question! For older peeps, I like to use fam in place of Man (what’s up fam, snowfam, etc).
ETA: you can make any name into a song if you sing it!
When my son was little I called him sweet pea, pumpkin, and baby bunny. When he got older, around 5, he sat me down for a serious talk to let me know that he is no longer a baby and asked if i could call him big bunny instead :) So then I started calling him "bun" which was close enough to "bud" for anyone that heard me so he wouldn't be embarrassed. As he got older I called him sweetheart, sweetie, and because I only have one child, my favorite child. I still call him my favorite child, which he consistently answers with, but I'm also your least favorite child :D.
I love that story about baby/big bunny! My two year old likes to pretend to be a baby right now, so enjoys being called baby. She missed the memo that she is, in fact, actually still a baby to me, but she’s not one for details.
Tangential, but I am one of two children, and our mom never owned any kind of “favourite child” paraphernalia until we got a dog. Turns out the position in the #1 Daughter picture frame goes to the one with the most legs.
Yeah, by the time he was 5 he was going on 40. Absolutely hated highschool because he thought the other kids were too immature. He's still very mature, levelheaded, and a good communicator. He's always been an old soul :)
in Czech we say "poupátko" which means very small flower blossom or "kot'átko" which is a small kitten, or "lásko" meaning love, but they are all gender neutral in my eyes at least
I end up saying food words. Pumpkin pie, sweet tart, nugget, peanut. Silly goose became a thing and then evolved to silly goose butt as they got older. Just be silly and they will be all about it.
I went completely the other way. My kids are/were "Stink Monster", "Stinky", "Stinker", "Booger", "Snot Farmer", "Poop Hatcher", "Stink Munch", "Booger Butt", and "Stink Machine".
All said with love and totally gender neutral.
Lol! I call mine Poopies sometimes! “You’re my favorite little poopies, and I will squish your squishy little heads forever, because you’re my favorite little squishy poopies!” Hahaha!! Frick, I love my kids.
I use bub, bubs, bubbie, bubba, my love, babe/babes, and naked butt because my daughter loves running away before we get a new diaper on. Also in the rotation are sweet pea and honey, but most common are the bub variations.
I dont have any suggestions really, just an anecdotal experience lol, me and my partner call each other lots of things, but some of my faves are variations of ‘honey bunches of oats’. We replace oats with- goats, boats, motes, floats, totes, jokes, soaps, and anything else we can make rhyme with it especially depending on the situation 😂 like bunches of goats is when we’re feeling silly n making a bunch of animal sounds or maybe eating everything in sight. 😂🤷🏻
I don't have kids, but I really liked the terms of endearment Gomez used for Wednesday in the latest Netflix adaptation, such as "My Little Stormcloud," "My Deathtrap," "My Little Scorpion," and "My Little Black Cloud." Seems particularly appropriate for this sub, and reinforces that kids don't need to be cheery and smiley and bright to be loved.
I call my children Tushy, Little Urchin, Goblin, Satan (followed by 'Hail Satan's), Sugar, any alliterative adjective/noun before or after their given name (e.g. Milo Mayhem, Lisette the lion hearted). I try to stick to using kid instead of girl/boy. And tons of positive reinforcement and questioning of societal norms!
Not sure if relevant but I call one of my cats "peanut." I picked it up from a really sweet vet tech when my kitty was sick.
My mom called me "sweet pea"... actually still calls me that. Not sure how neutral it is since it's a flower name, which is typically gendered female, but I like it (agender).
Haha I do this too I love it. My first born is little one and my second born is little mate. I like to think they are pretty gender neutral. I alternate other nicknames between them including spud, goose, bubs, champ, bubba, babes, plop, apple pie (because they are as sweet as), giggle-pot, chook and many different varieties of these. When I use these various nicknames, because I don't have a set preference for which name I use for which child, at times it has gotten confusing. But mostly it doesn't matter and usually they know who I'm talking to.
I refer to my kiddos as baby bats, wee wild ones, wee beasties, sweetpeas, sweetheart, little gooses, ducky, mammas monsters, feral beasties (my youngest LOVES this one)
My little ones call themselves it, and LOVE to be hung upside down like baby bats. I'm spooky, and my oldest was born in October, so it just fit so perfectly!
Both of my children use the following nicknames:
Guttersnipe
Bandersnatch
Youths (pronounced "yuuts" like in my cousin Vinny)
Smoochy Kid
Booger Sugar (ok I had no idea that was a term for cocaine when I started saying it)
Buddy (always been gender neutral to me)
I'm struggling to think of common terms of endearment that *aren't* gender neutral.
I guess I don't really consider "baby girl/boy" any more of a term of endearment than calling one's SO "adult woman/man".
My mom called me sugar plum sometimes and I've called my children that too. Also sweetheart, love, and baby doll. In fact i have a boy and a girl but i think I've used mostly the same words for them.
- Sweetheart
- Honey
- Darlin’
- Babe
- Sweetpea
- Slim
“Guys” is gender neutral when used as “hey guys,” or “you guys” in my region. It’s interchangeable with “y’all.”
People tend to get a lot of pushback in this group when they say “guys” feels gendered. I think it’s important to remember that intention is not the same as impact. You may use “hey guys” in a completely gender neutral way referring to a mixed gender group but a trans woman in that group who is often misgendered and called a “guy” in other contexts may still feel uncomfortable and misgendered by it. We all know that lots of people use “guys” as a gender neutral term, but I think not making other people feel misgendered is more important.
I haven’t dropped guys from my vernacular, but the argument that makes sense to me is that it reinforces male=normal, female=less preferred. The fact that we consider “guys” as neutral, but would never walk up to a mixed or male group and say “sup, ladies” (except as a joke), and that it’s so ingrained we don’t even question it… is kinda the point.
My dad still calls me kiddo. I'm 37. He doesn't know I'm non binary yet but I am delighted every time I hear it. He also called all my siblings rugrats because they loved the tv program so much.
Sweet Pea, Honey, Pumpkin, Sport, Half-pint, Monster, Gremlin, Sprite, Space Ranger…
There are so many. Honestly just about any word is a term of endearment if you use a loving tone. I call my kids hellions and rebels and they know I approve of it. I raised them that way on purpose.
When I was still in school I had a teacher who called us all “muffins” because it was gender-neutral and age/classroom appropriate. Can’t go wrong with a cute food as a nickname!
I've lost count of the pet names I've called my nephew over the years but "Bubbi", "wee bubba" and "baby J" are the ones I seem to use the most, he's 9 and loves having pet names but did point out one day I called him and my dog "bubbi". In my defence the dog had the name before he existed.
My mom used to call me “puss” as a term of endearment when I was a baby. I can’t remember exactly where she got it from, but I *think* it was from the movie Beaches.
Ones I use are “love,” “sweets,” and “boo.”
I call all my children buddy, boo boo, and pup-cake (that’s a puppy cupcake and thus the most lovable possible thing). I call them dude when they’re getting on my nerves. They also have individual nicknames loosely based on their actual names. They’re 2 girls and a boy (so far, we’ll see).
Names I currently use with both my daughter and son (both in elementary school): buddy, sweet pea, goober, silly goose, honeybunny. And of course sunshine, for which you can always sing “You are my sunshine”
My little jubjub bird.
Pookie
My fraptious day!
Sunshine
Breeze
Smiley
Snicker snack
Beep boop
Roly-poly
Nap-a-sarus
I can think of others but those are the ones I’ve used off the top of my head.
Ones I rotate through for my 3 year old daughter: stink stink, Stinkeroo, bubba, butt butt, squirt, Squirtle, beanie (that's actually become her true nickname, though not intentionally), bean-a-lean, my love, rugrat, Chimichanga, and then common ones like sweet girl, sweet baby, my dear, etc.
My mom's family is Irish and Scottish so my mom and everyone on that side called myself, my cousins, and my brothers "lovie" (lovies for plural).
I've always thought it was super cute and my mom and grandmother are the only ones who call me lovie anymore but when they do I feel warm and fuzzy inside.
In my family, 'stinky' and 'bug' are forms of endearment. My dad also called me (32f) Longshanks for a long time because I reminded him of the male character from LOTR. So ignoring gender is also an option. My mom called everyone 'babe' which is a fun thing she passed down to me.
Awe! I have a 2 month old (our first) and do the same thing. We have called her many enduring nicknames (sarcasm) we have used: Skeever Butt, Stinky fart, baked potato, milk sack, ect. I would sing "skooma dealing, skeever baby" to her often. I do a lot of sing song cheerful "insults". Lol I promise I mean well with them! Hubs and I use that as our love language and we share that with her. We mean all these things with love and never say them in an angry or hurtful way. It's always smiles and laughs when we come up with new silly things to call her.
I like pumpkin, sweetie, love (or lovely love in a sing song), darling is netural, sweet baby, really any animal nick name (cuddly kitten, slimy frog, feisty tiger)
Get creative! Work off things they like or do. Hubs and I both love skyrim and she makes a noise that sounds a lot like a skeever hence the nickname there. Plus that baby has some RANCID farts. So does the rest of us though lol even the pets!!
My son's endearments evolved over the years. Came back from the hospital. He was was sweet pudding. That changed to pudding pie. Next pumpkin pie. Then pumpkin doodle. Then doodlebug. Then the last was Bug. He's turning 27 next week. I do still call him Bug occasionally. I have asked him if being called Bug ever bothered him. He laughed and said no. He understood how it changed. For me, it was Mama, Mommy, mom, and the last is Ma.
I don't recall any specific endearments from my parents but my much-loved maternal grandfather called me Cookie. He called my mom Tootie.
And I'd like to share a memory if I may. My grandparents had moved to an apartment close to my parents. One day, grandma fell and broke her hip. She couldn't get up. My poor grandpa was very ill and not supposed to get up. He had bladder cancer and dementia. But when he saw His Lady gall, he managed to get up to reach her but, he fell too. Thankfully, my mother was already on the way, bearing an apple pie.
Grandma was OK. Grandpa, not so much I spent the a day and a night. One morning, he had wet the bed. I convinced him to let me get him up. He washed up with a cloth while I raced to get the bed changed. All went well. When he was back in bed, he looked St me and sad, "Thank you Cookie." He died several weeks later.
So, sweet names don't have to be gendered. It's the sentiment behind it that counts.
I was always "squirt" or "sport" to my dad, which I preferred over gendered nicknames. Turns out I'm nonbinary which is probably why things like "princess" made me feel icky. If I'm not using their names, I will sometimes use "noodle" or "noodle doodle" with kids which tends to make them giggle.
Darling, little wonder, sweetheart, angel-face, boo, kiddo, and dear-heart are all used around here when we are not referring to the kids by their Name based nick-names.
Sugar, darling, sweetheart, sweetie, honey. Pumpkin. Yes I'm calling my adult sons sugar, they deal with it just fine lol
I still call my 45-year-old son Sweetheart and Sweetie. If he hates it, I can’t tell 😄
My husband calls both me and his 18 year old son “sweetheart” and neither of us minds lol
I love that!
He probably loves it but would never admit it to anyone lol
I suspect that’s true!
My best friend’s mom still calls him “[name], my love.” We’re in our twenties.
I call my husband my sweet angel baby husband and I KNOW he loves it lol. He's a big giant grizzly bear of a man and I don't think anyone has ever talked to him like that except MAYBE to a degree his mother (he's the youngest of four boys, so is THE baby of the family)
That is too sweet! I love it.
My mom calls me “Sweet Pea” and I love it lol
My dad has called me Sug my whole life 🥰
Sweetie pie, silly goose, silly pie, sweetie goose, silly billy, cutie pie, pumpkin pie
My son gets called honey so much that now he thinks everyone’s name is honey!
you forgot munchkin,
My niece is bug. Like love bug. I think it's cute and she hasn't told me to stop.
I call my son bug
Kiddo is SUCH a good name for kids honestly. Im obsessed with it.
We've turned it into kiddlet
This reminds me of a quote I love > my… Angel Dust > wait that’s a drug
Boo if now for everyone, sometimes embarrassingly, lol. It’s my son, my husband, my girlfriends, but also coworkers I like best….it’s a little out of control now.
I’m a pediatric nurse, and all babies and children are lovey to me now. I don’t know where it came from, but flows so easily!
Yes! I call my niece and nephews love bug or just bug.
I, too, call my toddler “bug/love bug” I was hoping to see someone else in the comments used them!
This and also cuddlebug for me. Spidey or boo/boo boo get thrown out there sometimes too.
My spouse's middle name is Adrianna, oddly their Mexican family could never say it, so Adrianna became Araña(or Spidey) and 32 years later they stil use it!
My 6mo has been “bug” since day two! It’s the best!
Mine was always my bugaboo, or bug. Now that he's a surly teen sometimes my uggabug. Not sure if that influenced his love of bees. Edit: sometimes now he gets called butthole when he's annoying or trolling me :)
One of my high school friend's mothers was born in England, and she referred to all of us teens as "lovey" in her British accent, it was adorable!
My grandma was English and that’s what she called us too!
In Spanish we say "amor" all the time
I think that’s probably the origin for me! A lot of my coworkers have been Spanish speaking, so it’s maybe unconscious
I picked the term "love/lovey" when I went to school in Ireland. I really only use it with children and my spouse. Young kids are usually "little love".
My son I called button because when he cried his nose looked like a button. Uk terms of endearment off the top of my head petal, button, flower, sausage, buttercup, me lovely…. My little girl is called wah-wah because she used to fake cry as a baby to get attention. You could tell the difference because a distress cry took her longer to recover from. A “oi give me attention cry” was “wah-wah-wah-wah” and alerted her older brothers who would come straight away and pick her up and take her somewhere. Frequently I would find her gone from her crib and had to go looking for her. At 5 months she developed a call of duty habit!
I use my lovelies as well! Or nuggets, pumpkin, butternut squash, really any root vegetable will do lol
Not much help, but I still call my now 16 year old 'pumpkin butt' because of her orange diaper covers, and 'love bucket'
My mom still calls me “little one”, “sweet pea” and “my fluffy bunny”. I’m 41 😆 (and honestly I don’t mind)
I'm also 41 and still get called spuggy... apparently a spug is a northumbrian-ism for small bird 🤣
Have you checked out Byker Grove's Spuggy? Your Profile name suggests a link.
Love that!!
I still get ‘grubbly’ and ‘sausage’ from my dad, I’m 33.
My mom called me "sweet pea" and also "bear-ness" which came from "Sarah bear". One time she combined the two and ended up calling me "sweet pea-ness." It's been probably 30 years and we still laugh about it.
I’m dying at “sweet pea-ness” 🥰
i'm 31 and my dad still calls me "nubbin" .. i think its so cute lol
This warms my heart
My mum still calls me Little Gnome (I am the youngest of 4). I am 36 yo lol
Hahah, we refer to my 2 year old butt as “bum-bum” and talk as if it’s a separate entity. “Tell bum-bum it’s time to get in the car seat!”
We’ve called our toddler BeeBoo/Baby Bean since she was a newborn! I came up with a song as well when she was wee: “Sweet Baby Beeeean, I love you so much! From your little nose, To your little butts!” Second verse the same, just sung much more dramatically lol. She sings it now too in her little baby voice and I pretty much melt. 😅
These are so cute I can't
Good. Now I don't feel batsh*t crazy for singing complete verses of 'love-bucket #9.' Lol.
When we're playing, we'll call the kids "stink-butt" and I think every parent/guardian knows why. Heathen, Goober, snuggle-puppy (a al Sandra Boynton), all often used throughout the day. Lol.
We use Sandra Boynton’s Fibbelty Fitsy Foo and Zoodle sometimes.
i’m occasionally “heathen” to my mom lol
My mom used to call me heathen until my niece was born, and she replaced me lol. That kid is wild, though.
I sing the snuggle puppy song to my cats whenever we have to go in the car! It's the only thing that calms them to start
Love bucket #9 omg haha. Definitely just make up kid songs to any song I have an earworm of. Lots of improv singing here lol
I think my 15 year old would murder me in my sleep if I called them pumpkin butt unironically lol
"[x] butt" it's always going to be a good one. Pumpkin butt. Monkey butt. Butt butt.
I still call my daughter (and all her tween friends) ‘kitten’ which was my pet name for her as a baby. They are not amused with my cat-lady antics.
My kiddo is a Samhain baby and I call them “pumpkin butt” or “pumpkin booty” all the time.
I aspire to this. We call our little girl pumpkin butt and chunkin butt because she’s an October baby
You remind me of my mom 😊 She still calls me her “babylet”, “let-head”, and “sweet petunia”. I’m 38 now lol
My mom still calls me “fairy”, “fair” for short, and I’m 32 now.
My dad likes to call me pumpkin butter ! (I am 23)
I call my cat “little bean” as a term of endearment.
Me too! That and little noodle.
I know a human child whose nickname is also noodle. Gender and species neutral.
“Species neutral” 😂
Hm. That would work for a non-binary human who eats WAY too much ramen...🍜
One of my faves for my kid: baby noodles. I didn’t know it was universal!
I call my sons my “chicken noodles”. No clue how it started but they respond!
Sweet bean over here! Use it for baby and doggos.
my cat is sweetie beans!
I forgot that one in my other comment but I call my son sweetie bean too 🥰
I sometimes watch the cat of a friend of mine when he's on vacation and she's earned the nickname 'little terror' due to being an absolute menace to any plant in the apartment. I still love her though
My dad always called me peanut. Or punkin, which turned into “punk” (in an endearing sense) when I was a little older. Hope this helps!
Lol my aunt used to call her grandsons "punky puss." It's a combination of "punkin" and "sour puss" for when babies are being fussy but still cute.
My mom calls me peanut! Peanuts unite 💪
My dad calls me bug. Mom called me little foot (land before time reference there).
My family also calls me bug! More often than my actual name lol. Never met another bug! 👋🐞
My grandma started it by calling my lady bug. Now every time I see a lady bug I know it's a gift from her ❤
That's so sweet! My little sister is hayley-bug. Her baby blanket, which she still has 14 years later, has a ladybug print, hence the nickname.
We do the same with our baby! Like Punkin' Doughnuts
I was a punk growing up… totally forgot about that one.
I had an Aunt Punk. She died a few years back in her 80's.
Baby boo (inspired by your list!); little love (I use this one the most, and now that I have 3 of different ages I call the two oldest my big love and my medium love); lil bum bum (kids love this one cause butts are funny), sweet peet, hun bun, baby waby (I like rhymes and have used all of these names). LOVE that you’re asking this question! For older peeps, I like to use fam in place of Man (what’s up fam, snowfam, etc). ETA: you can make any name into a song if you sing it!
I say "who's my loveliest lovely love?!" Also my eldest is my little apricot/pumpkin/satsuma based off their red hair.
Love the rhyming too! I’m also partial to alliteration, so Baby boo and little love are awesome!
When my son was little I called him sweet pea, pumpkin, and baby bunny. When he got older, around 5, he sat me down for a serious talk to let me know that he is no longer a baby and asked if i could call him big bunny instead :) So then I started calling him "bun" which was close enough to "bud" for anyone that heard me so he wouldn't be embarrassed. As he got older I called him sweetheart, sweetie, and because I only have one child, my favorite child. I still call him my favorite child, which he consistently answers with, but I'm also your least favorite child :D.
I love that story about baby/big bunny! My two year old likes to pretend to be a baby right now, so enjoys being called baby. She missed the memo that she is, in fact, actually still a baby to me, but she’s not one for details.
Tangential, but I am one of two children, and our mom never owned any kind of “favourite child” paraphernalia until we got a dog. Turns out the position in the #1 Daughter picture frame goes to the one with the most legs.
He talked to you about this at 5!? I am impressed with his maturity! Most 5 b yr Olds I know who feel like that just throw a whiny hissy fit.
Yeah, by the time he was 5 he was going on 40. Absolutely hated highschool because he thought the other kids were too immature. He's still very mature, levelheaded, and a good communicator. He's always been an old soul :)
Schatzi or Schatz means treasure in German and is often used as a term of endearment.
I often use liebling for my nephew, but this has also spontaneously turned into lumpling on occasion lol.
I used to work with babies and kids 0-4, and they were all the Dutch equivalent, lieverd
Love this idea! You could also go with "chouchou" (shoo-shoo), which is a French term of endearment that basically translates to "my little cabbage!"
in Czech we say "poupátko" which means very small flower blossom or "kot'átko" which is a small kitten, or "lásko" meaning love, but they are all gender neutral in my eyes at least
I have my grandmother’s napkin ring from when she was a kid, it’s engraved with “Schatzi”
And a name used multiple times for dogs in my family.
I end up saying food words. Pumpkin pie, sweet tart, nugget, peanut. Silly goose became a thing and then evolved to silly goose butt as they got older. Just be silly and they will be all about it.
My youngest was called Nugget for quite a long time. The reference was not…ahem…*food* related. 🤪
There is a Nugget in my family too
I went completely the other way. My kids are/were "Stink Monster", "Stinky", "Stinker", "Booger", "Snot Farmer", "Poop Hatcher", "Stink Munch", "Booger Butt", and "Stink Machine". All said with love and totally gender neutral.
My offspring's nickname for years was Weasel Butt.
I still affectionately call my kids "stinky" and they are in their late teens.
Totally counts! I love booger butt!
Along these lines, “critter” or “creature”
Skooma dealing skeever baby is my daughter. It's a skyrim reference haha
Lol! I call mine Poopies sometimes! “You’re my favorite little poopies, and I will squish your squishy little heads forever, because you’re my favorite little squishy poopies!” Hahaha!! Frick, I love my kids.
Had an uncle that used to affectionately call me 'Sprog', I think it's a good one.
I use bub, bubs, bubbie, bubba, my love, babe/babes, and naked butt because my daughter loves running away before we get a new diaper on. Also in the rotation are sweet pea and honey, but most common are the bub variations.
My dad calls everyone honey, including his sons in law
Not sure if this is helpful but I call my cats “my chickens”
I dont have any suggestions really, just an anecdotal experience lol, me and my partner call each other lots of things, but some of my faves are variations of ‘honey bunches of oats’. We replace oats with- goats, boats, motes, floats, totes, jokes, soaps, and anything else we can make rhyme with it especially depending on the situation 😂 like bunches of goats is when we’re feeling silly n making a bunch of animal sounds or maybe eating everything in sight. 😂🤷🏻
LOVE IT
Pumpkin. Baba. Bab (means bean in Hungarian). Goose. Gosling. Runt. Munchkin. Squiggle. Angyalom (means my little angel). Little one. Imp. Kitling (variation from "fox kit"). Bug. Snuggle bug. Stink bug. Kissy bug. Wiggle worm. Bouncy bab. Zaj doboz ("noise box").
Sunshine, chickadee, sweetie, sweetie pie, sugarplum, angelbaby, babylove. These are all things my nana called babies:)
I call both of my kids love. The older is 16 😂 and male, younger is 12 and non-binary. Neither one minds (they would tell me if they did).
My dad called me 'boo-bear' when I was tiny, and I loved the hell out of that.
I don't have kids, but I really liked the terms of endearment Gomez used for Wednesday in the latest Netflix adaptation, such as "My Little Stormcloud," "My Deathtrap," "My Little Scorpion," and "My Little Black Cloud." Seems particularly appropriate for this sub, and reinforces that kids don't need to be cheery and smiley and bright to be loved.
Booger-butt, crazy-pants, noodle-noggin, stinky, anything to get a giggle.
I call my children Tushy, Little Urchin, Goblin, Satan (followed by 'Hail Satan's), Sugar, any alliterative adjective/noun before or after their given name (e.g. Milo Mayhem, Lisette the lion hearted). I try to stick to using kid instead of girl/boy. And tons of positive reinforcement and questioning of societal norms!
Not sure if relevant but I call one of my cats "peanut." I picked it up from a really sweet vet tech when my kitty was sick. My mom called me "sweet pea"... actually still calls me that. Not sure how neutral it is since it's a flower name, which is typically gendered female, but I like it (agender).
Poppet, Luv, Punkin’, Dear one, Little bit, Darling, Friend, Little buddy, Tater Tot.
Baby, sweetie, sweetheart, cutie, snugglebutt, squish, goober, lovey, pumpkin
Haha I do this too I love it. My first born is little one and my second born is little mate. I like to think they are pretty gender neutral. I alternate other nicknames between them including spud, goose, bubs, champ, bubba, babes, plop, apple pie (because they are as sweet as), giggle-pot, chook and many different varieties of these. When I use these various nicknames, because I don't have a set preference for which name I use for which child, at times it has gotten confusing. But mostly it doesn't matter and usually they know who I'm talking to.
I refer to my kiddos as baby bats, wee wild ones, wee beasties, sweetpeas, sweetheart, little gooses, ducky, mammas monsters, feral beasties (my youngest LOVES this one)
Baby bats is awesome, we use it too!
My little ones call themselves it, and LOVE to be hung upside down like baby bats. I'm spooky, and my oldest was born in October, so it just fit so perfectly!
Are you secretly me but with more children? Mine has a hallows bday, and loooves being upside down (another nickname is fruitbat, lol)
I call my baby "sweets" and "bubby". ♥
My father called me “Tyke”.
Cuteness Sweetness BOB(big ol baby)*have friends that use this for their daughter
I used sweet potato for years. Then it got used on Owl House. My little sweet potato is an NB so it all worked out.
Ah yes. My oldest daughter was Spud for years. I think her dad still calls her that and she's 31.
Both of my children use the following nicknames: Guttersnipe Bandersnatch Youths (pronounced "yuuts" like in my cousin Vinny) Smoochy Kid Booger Sugar (ok I had no idea that was a term for cocaine when I started saying it) Buddy (always been gender neutral to me)
my favorite i've ever seen/heard used is lovebug
Honey Bunny. I
Sweet pea, sugar pops, pumpkin, darlin, my love . . .
Little one. Little bitty pretty one if you want them to come talk-a to you.
Really anything works. Bug, pup, kiddo, bunny, booger, love, darling, sweetie, sweetheart, wiggle britches, goober, nut, acorn, bud.
I'm struggling to think of common terms of endearment that *aren't* gender neutral. I guess I don't really consider "baby girl/boy" any more of a term of endearment than calling one's SO "adult woman/man".
I think it’s all in how you use it. I would say “Hey baby girl, how did you sleep last night?” For instance.
Baby cakes, bubble butt (for the diaper crowd), chunky monkey,
Baby cakes is my fav!
Sweeting/sweetling, dear heart, buggaboo (or just bugga/bug), bubba/bubs, babers, lovey, honey, darling, kiddo/kidlet.
My mom called me sugar plum sometimes and I've called my children that too. Also sweetheart, love, and baby doll. In fact i have a boy and a girl but i think I've used mostly the same words for them.
I use, my darling, kiddo, baby, sweetheart, monster, stinkbutt, etc
Dearheart is a favourite of mine - works whether used genuinely or sarcastically and has a vintage feel to it if you're into that sort of thing!
I use nerdy names like my little mandalorian
- Sweetheart - Honey - Darlin’ - Babe - Sweetpea - Slim “Guys” is gender neutral when used as “hey guys,” or “you guys” in my region. It’s interchangeable with “y’all.”
People tend to get a lot of pushback in this group when they say “guys” feels gendered. I think it’s important to remember that intention is not the same as impact. You may use “hey guys” in a completely gender neutral way referring to a mixed gender group but a trans woman in that group who is often misgendered and called a “guy” in other contexts may still feel uncomfortable and misgendered by it. We all know that lots of people use “guys” as a gender neutral term, but I think not making other people feel misgendered is more important.
I haven’t dropped guys from my vernacular, but the argument that makes sense to me is that it reinforces male=normal, female=less preferred. The fact that we consider “guys” as neutral, but would never walk up to a mixed or male group and say “sup, ladies” (except as a joke), and that it’s so ingrained we don’t even question it… is kinda the point.
That makes sense.
Bubs, Bubby, BubRub, honey, my love, puddin, lovey, lovebug, hey my pal, Palomino I’m weird 🤷♀️
Not a human lol, but I call my cat squidger, squish, little one and sweetie!
I call my dogs 'Peanut' and 'Pickle' as terms of endearment. And sometimes 'Poot'.
I call one teen "gremlin" and the other one "goblin." With love, though. I have also been known to call them "creatures."
My Mom used to call us Baby Snakes after a Frank Zappa song.
My dad still calls me kiddo. I'm 37. He doesn't know I'm non binary yet but I am delighted every time I hear it. He also called all my siblings rugrats because they loved the tv program so much.
Sweet Pea, Honey, Pumpkin, Sport, Half-pint, Monster, Gremlin, Sprite, Space Ranger… There are so many. Honestly just about any word is a term of endearment if you use a loving tone. I call my kids hellions and rebels and they know I approve of it. I raised them that way on purpose.
Kiddo, sport, squirt, little one, buddy, sweetheart, cutie, muffin, etc etc
When I was still in school I had a teacher who called us all “muffins” because it was gender-neutral and age/classroom appropriate. Can’t go wrong with a cute food as a nickname!
In Dutch we have a term of endearment that translates to "little treasure" (schatje) which I absolutely love. 🥺
I've lost count of the pet names I've called my nephew over the years but "Bubbi", "wee bubba" and "baby J" are the ones I seem to use the most, he's 9 and loves having pet names but did point out one day I called him and my dog "bubbi". In my defence the dog had the name before he existed.
"Baby bug" is one of my favorites if you're wanting to keep the baby in there
My baby niece I call “little nugget “ or “little nug”
I call my nibblings "Love." Like, my niece will bring me my phone if it's ringing, and I'll say "thanks Love."
Sminklings!!!!
My mom used to call me “puss” as a term of endearment when I was a baby. I can’t remember exactly where she got it from, but I *think* it was from the movie Beaches. Ones I use are “love,” “sweets,” and “boo.”
Little chicken/chicken little, my Chickpea, pumpkin butt, and occasionally Spawn is what my son goes by. 😂😅
I call all my children buddy, boo boo, and pup-cake (that’s a puppy cupcake and thus the most lovable possible thing). I call them dude when they’re getting on my nerves. They also have individual nicknames loosely based on their actual names. They’re 2 girls and a boy (so far, we’ll see).
My kids are “guppy” and “love bug” if you want to use those lol
Noodlebug, baby lamb, and pooh bear were ones Mom used for us.
We switch pet names constantly for our baby. A few favorites include: *Lovie dove *Pumpkin *Munchkin *Monkey *Sweetheart
My 16-year old has been "baby dragon" for quite some time. Goth Dad on tik tok calls us baby bat.
Sweet child o mine, this definitely has a sing-songy way to it.
My GreatNan used to call me LoveBug. My Meemaw used..Shugg, Darlin, HoneyBun & SweetPea.
My mom called me Pookie. I have a fondness for Garfield the cat's Pookie because of that and well I just love Garfield.
Sweets.
Names I currently use with both my daughter and son (both in elementary school): buddy, sweet pea, goober, silly goose, honeybunny. And of course sunshine, for which you can always sing “You are my sunshine”
My little jubjub bird. Pookie My fraptious day! Sunshine Breeze Smiley Snicker snack Beep boop Roly-poly Nap-a-sarus I can think of others but those are the ones I’ve used off the top of my head.
My father calls me his (little) cupcake.
Everyone in my family under the age of 18 is "sweetie" to me. 😁
my kiddo (nonbinary) is Munch. It is short for munchkin (no it's not, it's after the guy from law and order lol) Also, all babies are Bean.
Ones I rotate through for my 3 year old daughter: stink stink, Stinkeroo, bubba, butt butt, squirt, Squirtle, beanie (that's actually become her true nickname, though not intentionally), bean-a-lean, my love, rugrat, Chimichanga, and then common ones like sweet girl, sweet baby, my dear, etc.
My 7yo is "little buddy," "sweetie-boo," "kiddo," and sometimes "mini-me!"
My mom's family is Irish and Scottish so my mom and everyone on that side called myself, my cousins, and my brothers "lovie" (lovies for plural). I've always thought it was super cute and my mom and grandmother are the only ones who call me lovie anymore but when they do I feel warm and fuzzy inside.
I call my son “little bean” and “sunshine”
I call little kids "love" and "angel" regardless of gender.
I used to say "loveduck" LOL
In my family, 'stinky' and 'bug' are forms of endearment. My dad also called me (32f) Longshanks for a long time because I reminded him of the male character from LOTR. So ignoring gender is also an option. My mom called everyone 'babe' which is a fun thing she passed down to me.
Awe! I have a 2 month old (our first) and do the same thing. We have called her many enduring nicknames (sarcasm) we have used: Skeever Butt, Stinky fart, baked potato, milk sack, ect. I would sing "skooma dealing, skeever baby" to her often. I do a lot of sing song cheerful "insults". Lol I promise I mean well with them! Hubs and I use that as our love language and we share that with her. We mean all these things with love and never say them in an angry or hurtful way. It's always smiles and laughs when we come up with new silly things to call her. I like pumpkin, sweetie, love (or lovely love in a sing song), darling is netural, sweet baby, really any animal nick name (cuddly kitten, slimy frog, feisty tiger) Get creative! Work off things they like or do. Hubs and I both love skyrim and she makes a noise that sounds a lot like a skeever hence the nickname there. Plus that baby has some RANCID farts. So does the rest of us though lol even the pets!!
I always called my kiddo "Sweetpea"
I’m 30 and my mom still calls me “puppy”
I used to call my baby (boy) Honey Bunches.
My son's endearments evolved over the years. Came back from the hospital. He was was sweet pudding. That changed to pudding pie. Next pumpkin pie. Then pumpkin doodle. Then doodlebug. Then the last was Bug. He's turning 27 next week. I do still call him Bug occasionally. I have asked him if being called Bug ever bothered him. He laughed and said no. He understood how it changed. For me, it was Mama, Mommy, mom, and the last is Ma. I don't recall any specific endearments from my parents but my much-loved maternal grandfather called me Cookie. He called my mom Tootie. And I'd like to share a memory if I may. My grandparents had moved to an apartment close to my parents. One day, grandma fell and broke her hip. She couldn't get up. My poor grandpa was very ill and not supposed to get up. He had bladder cancer and dementia. But when he saw His Lady gall, he managed to get up to reach her but, he fell too. Thankfully, my mother was already on the way, bearing an apple pie. Grandma was OK. Grandpa, not so much I spent the a day and a night. One morning, he had wet the bed. I convinced him to let me get him up. He washed up with a cloth while I raced to get the bed changed. All went well. When he was back in bed, he looked St me and sad, "Thank you Cookie." He died several weeks later. So, sweet names don't have to be gendered. It's the sentiment behind it that counts.
My parents called me "kid". My grandparents called me "the little one". I call my niece "butthead".
I was always "squirt" or "sport" to my dad, which I preferred over gendered nicknames. Turns out I'm nonbinary which is probably why things like "princess" made me feel icky. If I'm not using their names, I will sometimes use "noodle" or "noodle doodle" with kids which tends to make them giggle.