What is the origin of the word father

Last Update: Jan 03, 2023

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Asked by: Gene Stiedemann

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‘Father’ comes from the Proto-Indo-European “pəter” and Old English ‘fæder,’ meaning “he who begets a child,” reflecting the baby-talk sound “pa” as well as a phonetic shift from ‘p’ to ‘f’ in Middle English.

What is the root word for father?

The Latin root patr means “father.” This Latin root is the word origin of a fair number of English vocabulary words, including paternity, pattern, and patron.

When did the word father originate?

The first known record of the word “dad” was around the year 1500. Scholars suggest that the origin of the word “dad” actually comes from the first noises that kids make. “Dad” or “Dada” also sounds similar in many different languages and consists of two similar sounding consonants.

Does the word father mean source?

→ The word father means «Source of Life.» God is your Father, who is the source of life and provision for you.

Where did the word dad or daddy come from?

“And that has to do with how babies start to vocalize.” Dad most probably comes from dada, which has a construction one can see reflected in other pater words like papa, tata, abba and baba. To understand this, it is best that we do some things that might weird out the people around you.

28 related questions found

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English fader, from Old English fæder, from Proto-West Germanic *fader, from Proto-Germanic *fadēr, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr. Doublet of ayr, faeder, padre, pater, and père.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fä’thə(r), IPA^(key): /ˈfɑːðə(ɹ)/
• (General American) enPR: fä’thər, IPA^(key): /ˈfɑðɚ/
• (General Australian) enPR: fä’thə, IPA^(key): /ˈfɐːðə/
• (Ireland) enPR: fä’thə, IPA^(key): /ˈfɒːðɚ/
• (obsolete) enPR: făthər, fāthər, IPA^(key): /ˈfæðəɹ/, /ˈfeɪðəɹ/^[1][2]
• Homophone: farther (in non-rhotic accents)
• Rhymes: -ɑːðə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: fa‧ther

Noun[edit]

father (plural fathers)

1. A (generally human) male who begets a child.

   My father was a strong influence on me.

   My friend Tony just became a father.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.

   • 1980 August 1 [1 May 1980], Chiang, Ching-kuo, “President Chiang Ching-kuo continues his period of mourning and finds that visits to countryside and people give him renewed strength”, in Taiwan Today‎^[3], archived from the original on 17 May 2020:

     My personal success or failure is insignificant; the rise or fall of the nation is my responsibility and must not be shirked. Upon introspection, I feel I am firmer than ever in confidence that the Communists will be defeated. These are feelings which will comfort Father’s soul in Heaven.

   • 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Apollo Cafe, Presidium Commons, Citadel:

     Shepard: The bartender over there?
     Liara: The matriarch hired by the asari government to track my movements?
     Shepard: She’s your father.
     Liara: I know.

2. A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a progenitor; especially, a first ancestor.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 4:16:

     Therefoꝛe it is of faith, that it might bee by grace; to the ende the pꝛomiſe might be ſure to all the ſeede, not to that onely which is of the Law, but to that alſo which is of the faith of Abꝛaham, who is the father of vs all,

3. A term of respectful address for an elderly man.

   Come, father; you can sit here.

4. A term of respectful address for a priest.

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Bless you, good father friar!

5. A person who plays the role of a father in some way.

   My brother was a father to me after my parents got divorced.

   The child is father to the man.
6. The founder of a discipline or science.

   Albert Einstein is the father of modern physics.

7. Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind.
   • 1991, The Nairobi Law Monthly:

     Soon after the announcement of this year’s election results, Mereka said that «the father of all battles had just begun.» His dispute with Muite goes back to March last year […]

   • 2002, Financial Management:

     «If UK GDP slows by 1 per cent, there is the mother and father of all recessions. It was exciting, but very bizarre, working in such an environment.»

   • 2012, Zubairu Wai, Epistemologies of African Conflicts: Violence, Evolutionism, and the War in Sierra Leone, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 93:

     “The Father of All Battles”
     On March 23, 1991, a band of armed insurgents attacked the town of Bomaru […]

8. Something inanimate that begets.

   • 1649, Richard Lovelace, Amyntor’s Grove, His Chloris, Arigo, and Gratiana. An Elogie.‎^[4], Thomas Harper, page 88:

     But may the Sun and gentle weather, / When you are both growne ripe together, / Load you with fruit, such as your Father / From you with all the joyes doth gather: / And may you when one branch is dead / Graft ſuch another in it’s ſtead, […]

9. (Christianity) A member of a church council.

   • 2003, Francis Oakley, The Conciliarist Tradition: Constitutionalism in the Catholic Church, 1300–1870, →ISBN, pages 37–8:

     In proceeding in this fashion, the fathers assembled at Pisa were following the generally accepted canonistic teaching of the day […]

   • 2009, Peter Chidi Okuma, Empowerment of the Catholic Laity in the Nigerian Political Situation […], →ISBN, page 177:

     On the part of the fathers of the synod, over 50 bishops, from every continent, spoke on different ‘group forms’ of the lay apostolate, whereas about 38 fathers made their own interventions in writing to the General Secretary.

   • 2014, Ronald D. Witherup, The Word of God at Vatican II: Exploring Dei Verbum, →ISBN, page 31:

     Remember that the fathers of Vatican II had rejected the first draft of the constitution on revelation entirely.

10. (computing) The archived older version of a file that immediately precedes the current version, and was itself derived from the grandfather.
    • 2004, Ray Bradley, The Ultimate Computing Glossary for Advanced Level (page 31)

      Three generations of file are usually kept, being the grandfather, father and son files.

    • 2007, O. Ray Whittington, Patrick R. Delaney, Wiley CPA Exam Review 2008: Auditing and Attestation (page 556)

      The file from which the father was developed with the transaction files of the appropriate day is the grandfather.

Synonyms[edit]

• (parent): see Thesaurus:father
• (most significant thing): see mother and granddaddy

Antonyms[edit]

• (with regards to gender) mother
• (with regards to ancestry) son, daughter, child

Hypernyms[edit]

• (a male parent): parent

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

• Father
• Jupiter
• paternal

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

father (third-person singular simple present fathers, present participle fathering, simple past and past participle fathered)

1. To be a father to; to sire.

   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], page 117, column 2:

     Well go too, we’ll haue no Baſtards liue, / Eſpecially ſince Charles muſt Father it.

2. (figuratively) To give rise to.

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 387, column 1:

     Cowards father Cowards & Baſe things Syre Bace;

3. To act as a father; to support and nurture.

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 390, column 2:

     I good youth, / And rather Father thee, then Maſter thee:

4. To provide with a father.

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 116, column 2:

     Thinke you, I am no ſtronger then my Sex / Being ſo Father’d, and ſo Husbanded?

   • 1906, James George Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, volume 2, page 209:

     The relations of the sexes were so loose and vague that children could not be fathered on any particular man.

5. To adopt as one’s own.
   • 1713, Jonathan Swift, Imitation of Horace, Book I. Ep. VII.

     Kept company with men of wit / Who often fathered what he writ.

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

• beget
• grandpa
• pater
• paternal
• sire

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

• afther, fareth, hafter, trefah

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

father

1. (Late Middle English) Alternative form of fader

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological father is the male genetic contributor to the creation of the infant, through sexual intercourse or sperm donation. A biological father may have legal obligations to a child not raised by him, such as an obligation of monetary support. An adoptive father is a man who has become the child’s parent through the legal process of adoption. A putative father is a man whose biological relationship to a child is alleged but has not been established. A stepfather is a non-biological male parent married to a child’s preexisting parent, and may form a family unit but generally does not have the legal rights and responsibilities of a parent in relation to the child.

The adjective «paternal» refers to a father and comparatively to «maternal» for a mother. The verb «to father» means to procreate or to sire a child from which also derives the noun «fathering». Biological fathers determine the sex of their child through a sperm cell which either contains an X chromosome (female), or Y chromosome (male).^[1] Related terms of endearment are dad (dada, daddy), baba, papa, pappa, papasita, (pa, pap) and pop. A male role model that children can look up to is sometimes referred to as a father-figure.

Paternal rights

The paternity rights of a father with regard to his children differ widely from country to country often reflecting the level of involvement and roles expected by that society.

Paternity leave

Parental leave is when a father takes time off to support his newly born or adopted baby.^[2] Paid paternity leave first began in Sweden in 1976, and is paid in more than half of European Union countries.^[3] In the case of male same-sex couples the law often makes no provision for either one or both fathers to take paternity leave.

Child custody

Fathers’ rights movements such as Fathers 4 Justice argue that family courts are biased against fathers.^[4]

Child support

Child support is an ongoing periodic payment made by one parent to the other; it is normally paid by the parent who does not have custody.

Paternity fraud

An estimated 2% of British fathers experiences paternity fraud during a non-paternity event, bringing up a child they wrongly believe to be their biological offspring.^[5]

Role of the father

In almost all cultures fathers are regarded as secondary caregivers^{[citation needed]}. This perception is slowly changing with more and more fathers becoming primary caregivers, while mothers go to work, or in single parenting situations and male same-sex parenting couples.

Fatherhood in the Western World

In the West, the image of the married father as the primary wage-earner is changing. The social context of fatherhood plays an important part in the well-being of men and their children.^[6] In the United States 16% of single parents were men as of 2013.^[7]

Importance of father or father-figure

Involved fathers offer developmentally specific provisions to their children and are impacted themselves by doing so. Active father figures may play a role in reducing behavior and psychological problems in young adults.^[8] An increased amount of father–child involvement may help increase a child’s social stability, educational achievement,^[9]: 5 and their potential to have a solid marriage as an adult. Their children may also be more curious about the world around them and develop greater problem solving skills.^[10] Children who were raised with fathers perceive themselves to be more cognitively and physically competent than their peers without a father.^[11] Mothers raising children together with a father reported less severe disputes with their child.^[12]

The father-figure is not always a child’s biological father and some children will have a biological father as well as a step- or nurturing father. When a child is conceived through sperm donation, the donor will be the «biological father» of the child.

Fatherhood as legitimate identity can be dependent on domestic factors and behaviors. For example, a study of the relationship between fathers, their sons, and home computers found that the construction of fatherhood and masculinity required that fathers display computer expertise.^[13]

Determination of parenthood

Roman law defined fatherhood as «Mater semper certa; pater est quem nuptiae demonstrant» («The [identity of the] mother is always certain; the father is whom the marriage vows indicate»). The recent emergence of accurate scientific testing, particularly DNA testing, has resulted in the family law relating to fatherhood experiencing rapid changes.

History of fatherhood

Many male animals do not participate in the rearing of their young. The development of human men as creatures which are involved in their offspring’s upbringing took place during the stone age.^[14]

In medieval and most of modern European history, caring for children was predominantly the domain of mothers, whereas fathers in many societies provide for the family as a whole. Since the 1950s, social scientists and feminists have increasingly challenged gender roles in Western countries, including that of the male breadwinner. Policies are increasingly targeting fatherhood as a tool of changing gender relations.^[15] Research from various societies suggest that since the middle of the 20th century fathers have become increasingly involved in the care of their children.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Patricide

In early human history there have been notable instances of patricide. For example:

• Tukulti-Ninurta I (r. 1243–1207 B.C.E.), Assyrian king, was killed by his own son after sacking Babylon.
• Sennacherib (r. 704–681 B.C.E.), Assyrian king, was killed by two of his sons for his desecration of Babylon.
• King Kassapa I (473 to 495 CE) creator of the Sigiriya citadel of ancient Sri Lanka killed his father king Dhatusena for the throne.
• Emperor Yang of Sui in Chinese history allegedly killed his father, Emperor Wen of Sui.
• Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman who, according to legend, killed her father after he imprisoned and raped her. She was condemned and beheaded for the crime along with her brother and her stepmother in 1599.
• Lizzie Borden (1860–1927) allegedly killed her father and her stepmother with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. She was acquitted, but her innocence is still disputed.
• Iyasus I of Ethiopia (1654–1706), one of the great warrior emperors of Ethiopia, was deposed by his son Tekle Haymanot in 1706 and subsequently assassinated.

In more contemporary history there have also been instances of father–offspring conflicts, such as:

• Chiyo Aizawa (born 1939) murdered her own father who had been raping her for fifteen years, on October 5, 1968, in Japan. The incident changed the Criminal Code of Japan regarding patricide.
• Kip Kinkel (born 1982), an Oregon boy who was convicted of killing his parents at home and two fellow students at school on May 20, 1998.
• Sarah Marie Johnson (born 1987), an Idaho girl who was convicted of killing both parents on the morning of September 2, 2003.
• Dipendra of Nepal (1971–2001) reportedly massacred much of his family at a royal dinner on June 1, 2001, including his father King Birendra, mother, brother, and sister.
• Christopher Porco (born 1983), was convicted on August 10, 2006, of the murder of his father and attempted murder of his mother with an axe.

Terminology

Biological fathers

• Baby Daddy – A biological father who bears financial responsibility for a child, but with whom the mother has little or no contact.
• Birth father – the biological father of a child who, due to adoption or parental separation, does not raise the child or cannot take care of one.
• Biological father – or sometimes simply referred to as «Father» is the genetic father of a child.
• Posthumous father – father died before children were born (or even conceived in the case of artificial insemination).
• Putative father – unwed man whose legal relationship to a child has not been established but who is alleged to be or claims that he may be the biological father of a child.^[21][22][23]
• Sperm donor – an anonymous or known biological father who provides his sperm to be used in artificial insemination or in vitro fertilisation in order to father a child for a third party female. Also used as a slang term meaning «baby daddy».
• Surprise father – where the men did not know that there was a child until possibly years afterward
• Teenage father/youthful father – Father who is still a teenager.

Non-biological (social and legal relationship)

• Adoptive father – the father who has adopted a child
• Cuckolded father – where the child is the product of the mother’s adulterous relationship
• DI Dad – social/legal father of children produced via Donor Insemination (where a donor’s sperm were used to impregnate the DI Dad’s spouse)
• Father-in-law – the father of one’s spouse
• Foster father – child is raised by a man who is not the biological or adoptive father usually as part of a couple.
• Mother’s partner – assumption that current partner fills father role
• Mother’s husband – under some jurisdictions (e.g. in Quebec civil law), if the mother is married to another man, the latter will be defined as the father
• Presumed father – Where a presumption of paternity has determined that a man is a child’s father regardless of if he actually is or is not the biological father
• Social father – where a man takes de facto responsibility for a child, such as caring for one who has been abandoned or orphaned (the child is known as a «child of the family» in English law)
• Stepfather – a married non-biological father where the child is from a previous relationship

Fatherhood defined by contact level

• Absent father – father who cannot or will not spend time with his child(ren)
• Second father – a non-parent whose contact and support is robust enough that near parental bond occurs (often used for older male siblings who significantly aid in raising a child, sometimes for older men who took care of younger friends (only males) who have no families)
• Stay-at-home dad – the male equivalent of a housewife with child, where his spouse is breadwinner
• Weekend/holiday father – where child(ren) only stay(s) with father on weekends, holidays, etc.

Non-human fatherhood

For some animals, it is the fathers who take care of the young.

• Darwin’s frog (Rhinoderma darwini) fathers carry eggs in the vocal pouch.
• Most male waterfowl are very protective in raising their offspring, sharing scout duties with the female. Examples are the geese, swans, gulls, loons, and a few species of ducks. When the families of most of these waterfowl travel, they usually travel in a line and the fathers are usually the ones guarding the offspring at the end of the line while the mothers lead the way.
• The female seahorse (Hippocampus) deposits eggs into the pouch on the male’s abdomen. The male releases sperm into the pouch, fertilizing the eggs. The embryos develop within the male’s pouch, nourished by their individual yolk sacs.
• Male catfish keep their eggs in their mouth, foregoing eating until they hatch.
• Male emperor penguins alone incubate their eggs; females do no incubation. Rather than building a nest, each male protects his egg by balancing it on the tops of his feet, enclosed in a special brood pouch. Once the eggs are hatched however, the females will rejoin the family.
• Male beavers secure their offspring along with the females during their first few hours of their lives. As the young beavers mature, their fathers will teach them how to search for materials to build and repair their own dams, before they disperse to find their own mates.
• Wolf fathers help feed, protect, and play with their pups. In some cases, several generations of wolves live in the pack, giving pups the care of grandparents, aunts/uncles, and siblings, in addition to parents. The father wolf is also the one who does most of the hunting when the females are securing their newborn pups.
• Coyotes are monogamous and male coyotes hunt and bring food to their young.
• Dolphin fathers help in the care of the young. Newborns are held on the surface of the water by both parents until they are ready to swim on their own.
• A number of bird species have active, caring fathers who assist the mothers, such as the waterfowls mentioned above.
• Apart from humans, fathers in few primate species care for their young. Those that do are tamarins and marmosets.^[24] Particularly strong care is also shown by siamangs where fathers carry infants after their second year.^[24] In titi and owl monkeys fathers carry their infants 90% of the time with «titi monkey infants developing a preference for their fathers over their mothers».^[25] Silverback gorillas have less role in the families but most of them serve as an extra protecting the families from harm and sometimes approaching enemies to distract them so that his family can escape unnoticed.

Many species,^{[citation needed]} though, display little or no paternal role in caring for offspring. The male leaves the female soon after mating and long before any offspring are born. It is the females who must do all the work of caring for the young.

• A male bear leaves the female shortly after mating and will kill and sometimes eat any bear cub he comes across, even if the cub is his. Bear mothers spend much of their cubs’ early life protecting them from males. (Many artistic works, such as advertisements and cartoons, depict kindly «papa bears» when this is the exact opposite of reality.)
• Domesticated dog fathers show little interest in their offspring, and unlike wolves, are not monogamous with their mates and are thus likely to leave them after mating.
• Male lions will tolerate cubs, but only allow them to eat meat from dead prey after they have had their fill. A few are quite cruel towards their young and may hurt or kill them with little provocation.^{[citation needed]} A male who kills another male to take control of his pride will also usually kill any cubs belonging to that competing male. However, it is also the males who are responsible for guarding the pride while the females hunt. However the male lions are the only felines that actually have a role in fatherhood.
• Male rabbits generally tolerate kits but unlike the females, they often show little interest in the kits and are known to play rough with their offspring when they are mature, especially towards their sons. This behaviour may also be part of an instinct to drive the young males away to prevent incest matings between the siblings. The females will eventually disperse from the warren as soon as they mature but the father does not drive them off like he normally does to the males.
• Horse stallions and pig boars have little to no role in parenting, nor are they monogamous with their mates. They will tolerate young to a certain extent, but due to their aggressive male nature, they are generally annoyed by the energetic exuberance of the young, and may hurt or even kill the young. Thus, stud stallions and boars are not kept in the same pen as their young or other females.

Finally, in some species neither the father nor the mother provides any care.

• This is true for most insects, reptiles, and fish.

See also

• Father complex
• Fathers’ rights movement
• Paternal age effect
• Patricide
• Paternal bond
• Putative father
• Putative father registry
• Responsible fatherhood
• Shared Earning/Shared Parenting Marriage
• Sociology of fatherhood
• «Father» can also refer metaphorically to a person who is considered the founder of a body of knowledge or of an institution. In such context the meaning of «father» is similar to that of «founder». See List of persons considered father or mother of a field.

Further reading

• Elizabeth Preston (27 Jun 2021). «The riddle of how humans evolved to have fathers». Knowable Magazine / BBC.com.

References

Bibliography

• Inhorn, Marcia C.; Chavkin, Wendy; Navarro, José-Alberto, eds. (2015). Globalized fatherhood. New York: Berghahn. ISBN 9781782384373. Studies by anthropologists, sociologists, and cultural geographers —
• Kraemer, Sebastian (1991). «The Origins of Fatherhood: An Ancient Family Process». Family Process. 30 (4): 377–392. doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.1991.00377.x. PMID 1790784.
• Diamond, Michael J. (2007). My father before me : how fathers and sons influence each other throughout their lives. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 9780393060607.
• Collier, Richard (2013). «Rethinking men and masculinities in the contemporary legal profession: the example of fatherhood, transnational business masculinities, and work-life balance in large law firms». Nevada Law Journal. 13 (2): 7.

The nicknames we use for parents go in and out of fashion age to age and era to era. At one time, men preferred “Sire.” Other times, “Father” was preferable. What we do know is that the most agreed upon way to refer to dad these days is by calling him, well, ‘dad.’

But why have we ditched ‘father’ for dad? The short answer is that things have gotten a little less formal. But the reason we’ve moved away from formality is that we’ve embraced what’s more linguistically natural for children and parents. ‘Father’ comes from the Proto-Indo-European “pəter” and Old English ‘fæder,’ meaning “he who begets a child,” reflecting the baby-talk sound “pa” as well as a phonetic shift from ‘p’ to ‘f’ in Middle English.

However, ‘dad’ did not evolve from ‘father.’

“It’s from ‘dada,’” says Professor John H. McWhorter, a professor at Columbia University, “a natural sound from children’s mouths as a second stab at consonants after they try the most natural ‘mama.’ Next is often either ‘dada, ‘tata,’ ‘baba’ or … ‘papa.’ Upon which, ‘father’ starts in Proto-Indo-European as “puh-TAIR,” and the ‘puh’ part is this same thing: what started as ‘pa’ in ‘papa.’ The words for Mommy and Daddy are the closest thing to linguistic universals because they are about mouth anatomy in infants rather than thought.”

There are also another key reason why this is reinforced over time. Emie Tittnich, a specialist at the University of Pittsburgh, speaking to Live Science, noted that parents generally refrain from using pronouns like ‘I’ or ‘you’ to avoid confusing their kids with abstract concepts early on. “‘Parents will use [‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’] to help their children learn the role names and also to indicate the relationship, ‘mommy and me,’” says Tittnich. “It usually takes the child awhile to understand that the same person can be called two different names.”

The agreed-upon naturality of these linguistic principles mean that as American society has become more colloquial and secular over time, we move (at least in this instance) away from a term that’s reflective of a status quo based in rigid concepts of class and religion—one of the meanings of ‘fæder’ in Old English is ‘supreme being,’ according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. As a result, we’re generally caught off guard when we hear a child refer to a parent as ‘father.’

However, this is not unanimously the case. We spoke with six dads who prefer — or simply stuck with — ‘father’ instead of ‘dad.’ Some do it as an homage to their own fathers; others do it to sound more authoritative. Others do it because it’s what their kids like. All have their reasons and, maybe, deep inside, some are just big fans of Proto-Indo-European language. Here’s what they say.

It’s What My Father Preferred

I sometimes worry that it sounds a little austere out loud, but it’s just what my father always asked us to call him, and it felt like it was important to me that we carry that on. No one in my family has had a problem with it. I think you can still be a ‘dad’ and be called ‘father,’ if that makes sense. It’s basically semantic, in that way, but it’s also more than semantics. — John, Baltimore, MD

Its What My Kid Decided to Call Me

It’s less of a request or a demand or anything, but when we were teaching my oldest what everything is called, we always just said ‘this is your mother’ and ‘this is your father,’ and he liked to say that, too. So we’ve kept it. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it was just adorably proper to have our little man coming up to us and saying “father, mother, may I use the bathroom,” or what have you. But as with everything, I don’t mind anything that seems to feel natural for my kids and makes them happy. — Eric, Austin, Texas

We’ve Always Been a More Traditional Family

My son didn’t start until he was older. I think he thought it sounded more respectful, or just more professional. We’ve always been a more traditional family, in how we carry ourselves, I guess you would say. So perhaps this was his way of taking that in stride, or contributing to that. My wife teases me about it sometimes. I should clarify, it’s generally him introducing me to other people that way. ‘This is my father, have you met my father?’ etc. — Patrick, Twin Cities, MN

It Just Sort of Stuck

In the past two years, my older daughter, age 21, began calling me ‘father’ and as strange as I found it, I didn’t mine it at all. Now, my four-year-old calls me “father” and I guess I now have a new title. As long as I am not being called ‘Henry,’ I am okay with it. — Henry, Boston, MA

It’s a Bit More Authoritative

I have eight children—three boys and five girls. I’ve always asked that they call me ‘father’ not to be domineering but because the house could get a little chaotic, as you can imagine, and my wife and I felt that it was a label that was more authoritative and kept things from being too chaotic. ‘Please don’t touch your father’s golf clubs’ just has a better ring to it, I guess. — Elliott, Charlotte, NC

It Instills a Sense of Responsibility in Me

I love that my children call me ‘father,’ because of the sense of responsibility it instills in me. Your ‘dad’ or ‘daddy’ is there to lend you the car, your ‘father’ is there to raise you, and protect you and make sure that you have the tool you need to succeed in life. When my kids call me ‘father,’ it reignites that sense of purpose for me every day, and reminds me it’s up to me to make their world a great place to grow up in. — Sam, Alachua Country, FL

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