In my dreams...
Margalit: "Mother darling, Best Mother in the Whole Wide World" is what I prefer to be called. Unfortunately, what I usually am called ranges from MOM! to MOTHER! to SHE. I just love She. Not."
Mary of Owlhaven: For best results, questions should be asked beginning with, "Please, my beautiful mommy..." and gratitude expressed as "Thank you, my beautiful mother!"
Lisa B: Well, I PREFER that my child would call me something like, 'Oh lovely, wise goddess of light and everlasting happiness." But what I get is "mooooommmmm." Or when he's upset with me, "You mean, bad mommy!"
Buffi: Let's see....Your Majesty would be nice. Academy Award winner? (actually that one would go to my daughter). Mostly, around here, I am Mommy. Although the little one calls me Mom fairly often, as does the nine year old - if we are in public. "Mommy" just ain't cool when you are nine. I would settle for "Yes Ma'am" every now & then, though.
Captain Mom: Genuflect, something along the lines of Your Highest Most Gorgeousness. Short of that, Mama or Mommy. But I prefer the Your Highest thing. On the Mama, our 5 year old has, for some reason, developed a habit of saying it with a sort of French accent. So it sounds so gentrified. Maa-Ma, with his little voice rising on the last syllable. On Mommy, it seems there's just no other word quite like it. When I feel particularly close with my own Mother, I find myself saying Mommy.
Karen Rani: I'd prefer to be called Ma'am, while lying in the Yucatan Pennisula, by a cabana boy named.....ah who cares what his name is, as long as he keeps bringing the Mohitos.
Sheryl: "Your Worship" is fine.
Susie Sunshine: My preferred title is:
"Goddess of Beauty Who Gave Us Life and Pop-Tarts" it makes for fewer adrenaline surges when a distant kid voice screams "MOM!!" on the playground. It's not mine!"

Because Mother is So Uncool!
Joshilyn Jackson: I wanted to be Mommy. Because mother sounds stick-up-the-butt-ish and Mama, Lord knows, is trashy. Which only bothers those of us who a) actually do have sticks up our butts and b) are trying to blonde up our extremely trashy roots.
I wanted to be mommy, and so I called myself Mommy to my first-born son, and Mommy I was. For a few years, anyway. Then it got shortened to the all purpose and utilitarian ""Mom,"" used by those of us who, like Sam, have grown too stinkin' cool to grant the embarrassing lady who drops him off at school every day that cutesy, diminutive Y on the end.
My daughter, Maisy, however, has changed my default setting of Mommy, all on her own, to Mama. She says it very cutely though, in this fake, Frenchy accent, so it comes out as "MaaMaa." She puts equal emphasis on both syllables unless she is exasperated with my silly insistence that she not run out into traffic or pick the cat up by his back legs, at which points it morphs into, "MaaMAAA."
I have renamed her, too. She's Maisy to the world, but I call her by her middle name. ""Jane,"" I say. Or Janey, Janey May, or Maisy Miss JaneJane. She doesn't let anyone else call her any variation of Jane. People hear me doing it and try, and she gently corrects them. She says, "That's MaaMaa's name for me. You please call me Maisy."
She just turned four. School is looming. Soon I will be relegated to the generic Mom and she will become "MAISYJANEGETDOWN HERERIGHTTHISSECONDAND CLEAN UPTHISMESS." I know it's coming. But for today, I am MaaMaa, and she is Janey, and may preschool last forever, world without end, Amen. "
Zoot: I prefer "Mom" and "Momma", but I have no idea why. I think part of it is because it transitions well as the child gets older. I wouldn't want my son to call me "Mommy" around he peers as he entered school, but "Mother" sounds waaay too formal for a woman with 7 ear piercings and three tattoos.
EmmaSometimes: Mama, because that is just what my children ended up calling me. Mother always sounded so formal.
Chris: Mother sounds a bit formal, but as long as it is my children calling me any of those names and NOT someone else, I could care less.

Who's your Mommy?
Amanda: Mommy, all the way – because I’m in no hurry for my kids to grow up and start calling me Mom. Although my two and a half year old already calls me Mom when he’s pissed off or doesn’t get his way. And I was hoping to be Mommy till he was at least 8!"
Kristen Chase: Lately I've been a Bitch with a Kid, however, I'm kind of waiting to hear Mommy. I feel like once you hear "mommy," you've landed.
MorahMommy: Mommy or Ima or the preferred name in our house. But truthfully, it doesn't matter what form of Mommy they use...only my 3 special ones can call me it!
Mrs. Darling: I want my little ones to call me mommy. Mom is too short. It can be yelled out in a fit of temper. To say mommy a child has to be feeling some sort of love for his mother. I have an older married daughter and it's fine for her to call me mother.
landismom: Gee, I've never heard "Moma," but I think I'm adopting that one. Who doesn't want to be named after a museum? I'm usually Mommy though (I think I'm changing my name to The Artist Formerly Known as Mommy).
Hula Doula: Depends on the day. Most of the time Mommy but there are those times when I've heard it way too many times in a day (in the whiney fussy voice)and quickly let them know that I've changed my name for an hour and run to mommy time out.
Stacy Quarty: Mommy, of course. Not only because that’s what I called my mother when I was small, but because there’s nothing sweeter than than the sound of my little daughters saying, “Mommy, I love you.�
Stacy: I prefer either mommy or mama. This probably sounds ridiculous but those two make me feel the youngest. For whatever reason mom seems fit for an older child."
Tuesday Girl: I am Mommy because that is what my Mother was to us and still is. Although sometimes I am sick of all the demands my kids have and then I don't answer to anything. : )
Donna Schwartz Mills: My 10-year-old still calls me "Mommy" and I am going to enjoy it while I can.
Mega Mom: I like Mommy. It is endearing and I know it will only last a few more years. Then they'll be too cool for it.

A Mommy by any other name...just won't do!
Martha: Mommy. "Mother" is inevitably used with a sassy hand-on-hip gesture complete with the five-year-old perfected whine. "Mama" grates on my nerves because it only comes out of my son's mouth when he's doing some whiny regressive baby talk. But what makes me smile the most? When he calls me "Ima." Then I know that he's paying attention in Hebrew School.
Danigirl: I love being Mummy. Tristan (age four) had started to call me Mom a lot, and of course his two year old brother followed suit, but recently there's been a lovely return to Mummy. I'll milk it as long as I can.
Holli: Mommy - absolutely Mommy. The other choices either have no meaning, or negative connotations for one reason or another.. We only called my mom "MOTHER!!" when we were whining.. Mama makes me think of "Big Mama," or "Yo Mama" but that is what Faith calls me half of the time. (Mama, not Yo Mama). I'm trying to break her of this! :) I've never heard of Mami, and as for MOMA - are you referring to the Museum of Modern Art? I love their gift store website!!
Krystyn: Mommy. I'm one of those annoying people who "cuties" everything. I occasionally call my sons Gage-ie and Aid-ie. My dog answers to Jack-ie. (Go ahead, roll your eyes. They do.) My ten year old called me Mom the other day and I corrected him before I could stop myself. With any luck he'll be one of those kids that insisits on calling me by my first name when he becomes a teenager. And then I might be forced to sell him to the circus. It could happen."

You can Mommy or you can call me Mama, but I am a Mutha
Sleeping Mommy: "Mama" or "Mommy" That's what I called her my mama and how we spelled it growing up. I never saw it spelled any other way. The only time I ever called her "Mother" was when I was trying to get her attention."
Her Bad Mother: Mommy, for now. Sometimes Mama. (WonderBaby doesn’t speak yet; I’m referring to how I refer to myself.) Mother is too formal (or is said in a tone of exasperation: Moth-urrr.) Mom comes later (your children decide when to call you that.)
cmhl: my son calls me mama, and my daughter calls me mommy.. I prefer either, it is still surprising to me that they are talking to ME and not to my mother!
Mary Tsao: I prefer mutha. Just kidding. I like Mama or Mommy. Those names make me feel young, like a young, hip mama. (Shut up.)

Mama...it's a Southern Thang
Amalah: Mama, because growing up in PA, I always wanted to be a Southern girl, which is why I started saying "y'all" to the guys unloading the moving truck here in DC, because CLOSE ENOUGH.
Kenya: I prefer ""mama."" In my house, it is pronounced ""MAH-muh"" and I love it because it sounds... well, a wee bit country. And I like that, my being a southern girl and all. It was always a title I wanted growing up and now... I have it. Corney, I know!"
Dawn: Mama. It's just always what she has called me.
Cissa Fireheart: I prefer Mama. It's Southern, and my husband's family is all Southern, and I love to hear it being said, especially when directed at me!

Mama Mia!
Jenijen: Mama, because it's, um, cooler. (shush.)
Mama C-ta: Mama - Mainly by default since it's part of my blogging name ;) Plus there is a bit of a hipness to it. I don't feel quite so old. I also like Ma said with a strong Italian accent which my non-speaking 10 month old hasn't perfected yet. Reasons why I don't use the others:
Mother: Sounds a bit militant
Mommy: I can't help think of Mommie Dearest (which in reality this might be more fitting for me. Metal hangers are evil you know.)
Mami: Makes me think of a big, fat country Grandma
Moma: Just looks like it's spelled incorrectly to me"
Carolina Fernandez: I prefer Mama. Don't know why. Maybe because when they were young barnacles I got so weary of hearing them scream "Moooommmmm" and "Mommy" all day long. Now I just like to hear Mama...it's sweet.
Jaime: I didn't start out with a preference, but nothing warms my heart more than a scratchy little two-year-old voice addressing me as "mama," as in, "I wuv you, mama," followed by a boogery hug.
Laura: Mama all the way, only because I dread the whine, "Mommeeeeee!". I figure the "aaaa" sound in Mama is much less ear-splitting than the high-pitched "eeeee". And you can't hold it as long, either. The "eeee" sound can take on a life of it's own and just keep going and going and going.
Mir: Mama. I loooove Mama. I don't know why. It may go back to Dinosaurs and how the baby called his parents "Mama" and "Not The Mama." Heh.

"M" is for the Mommy and the Mama that they call me
Alana: Mom by my older kids and Mama by my younger ones (when they were younger)...because it seems natural and that's what comes out of the mouths. I can't stand it when dd2 calls me "Ma" and I've told her many times to STOP already. Why does this bother me? Because it feels like she's just being linguistically lazy and that's not my name.
MrsDoF: My preference is MOM, but middle son began calling me Mother when he was about 15 years old. I'm not sure why, but I don't mind. Just so they call me! You have no idea how difficult it can be to get even an e-mail from children who have left the nest!
Much of the time, I think it was better when they were too young to go anywhere without me arranging a playdate.
Goober Queen: Most of the time they call me Mama or Mom. I'm sure they call me something else under their breath though.
Nancy: I really like the British "Mummy," but in this country it often evokes images of a Scooby Doo bad guy. So I'm Mama/Momma to my two girls."
Mrs. Mogul: *Mama because it will be easy for my baby to say In fact, He just said "Ma Ma" recently at 10 weeks old! I'm not kidding! He's going to be a prodigy! Then a few seconds later, he said. "Yo Yo Ma."
Christina Rosalie: Mama (this is what my 15 month old calls me, and I love to hear his little voice calling me.)
Sarcastic Journalist: I prefer "Mama" or "Mommy." Only stodgy women with button-up shirts are Mother. Mom is a term teenagers use. Also, I find it endearing when my toddler says "Mama."" It makes all the times she throws things at my head a little bit better."

Mom. Plain and Simple. Mom.
Dawn: I prefer MOM. Plain and simple. MA makes my skin crawl. Mommy usually means they want something.
Margaret: I prefer Mom.
Michele Yoakum: Mom/Mommy.
Baseballmom: I prefer Mom, I guess because that's what we called our Mom growing up, and I am used to it...especially when it is spoken in a whiny voice, sorta like a bawling calf!

Mom because the little buggers grew up
KCB: Mom and Mommy, because it’s what the kids call me.
Kira: My kids call me Mom. They used to call me Mama, which I loved. But I recently remarried, and since my new husband is called "Dad," they decided that "Mom" fit better. It makes sense, and I appreciate it as their move to understand the new roles in our family, but I miss the childishness of "Mama." In particular, when my youngest (who is four) asks "Hey, Mom?" I fell like responding, "Be right there...as soon as I pull this knife from my heart..."
Danelle O'Shea: Mom. My kids are older so they call me mom but they called me mommy when there were little
Kelsey: I love it when my little ones call me Mommy, and my heart aches when they move on to 'Mom.' I long for them to stay in the 'Mommy' stage just a little longer.
Steph: Both my kids (son 11 daughter 6) call me Mom. Normally my son calls me Dude Mom. I think it's cute!!! When my daughter was little she called me Mama. I loved that and thought it was a really warm way to call me mom!!! You know different than Mom."
DrumsNWhistles: Mom. My kids are older and it just seems to fit better than Mommy.
Sweatpantsmom: I prefer Mommy, but sadly, am increasingly being called Mom. But as my seven and ten year old daughters get older, I’ll consider myself lucky to avoid being called “Hey, you.�

Call me whatever you want to, but don't whine, beg or ask me for anything!

Lisa Stone: Anything but "Could someone please hand me...."
Angie: "Mommy" is my favorite, at this stage of the game anyway. "Mom" also works. "Mother" is what my pre-adolescent self called my own mom when I was a rotten brat (prn. "Muuuuh-THUR!!", insert smart-alecky head toss). "Mother" is definitely out.
andrea from the fishbowl: When I talk about myself in the third person – which I hate and probably do more often than I realize – I call myself Mummy. My daughters call me Momma and Mommy, and MAWWWW-MEEEEEE when they're calling me from outside the minute my hands touch the dishwater.
Beth Kanter: My children call me mommy, mom, and sometimes mama. I don’t really have a preference for any one of the terms of endearment, but I have preference for the tone of voice in which I’m called. I hate the whiney moooooommmmmeeeeey … I love the mommy that begins the sentence, “mommy, I love you. You are the best.�
Shawn Lea: Whatever will shut everyone up the quickest...that's what I'll answer to.
Debutaunt: Mommy. But only when it's not whined."
Deborah Klosky: I have two main names now, either of which I'd be happy to trade in for a simple, sweet Mom or Mommy: ""Why, Mom, why?"" and (bellowed from a
different room) ""Hey, Moooom."

Whatever you do just don't call me...
Kris: I like Mama, because that's what my boys tend to call me. John went through a phase where he always said, "Yes, Mother," to everything I asked him to do. That gave me the creeps.
Jen at MUBAR: Mummy from the kids. Mama from friends. Mother from people who really do not know me that well (I'm my children's mother). And never, ever Mom.
Jerri Ann Reason: By default, my boys call me mommy potty training ogre right now. Wait that wasn't a choice. Right now, I'm mommy. I suspect that in the next several years that will mature to Mama and eventually turn into Mother. That's how I did it and not really from any encouragement. Honestly, as long as my kids aren't calling me that word that rhymes with "witch", well make that anyone calling me that word, I don't care what they call me.
Julie (mothergoosemouse): I truly have no preference among those. Just don't call me Ma

Singing the mommy song
Chris: Well, usually it is Mommy but if I am singing my made-up lyrics to children's songs, it's Mama - it's got more funk for a song. (Think of This Old Man - "Little Boy, go to sleep, close your eyes don't make a peep, 'cause your Mama needs her rest and your Daddy does too. Mama and Daddy both love you." See - doesn't Mama work better than Mommy in there? - No, I don't know why Daddy doesn't need to change to Dada, it just doesn't.)

Mrs. Mommy
Susan: When my husband and I got married, I kept my name; my sons have my hsband's last name, not mine, and I have no plans to change my name to match theirs. If you ask my sons what Mommy's name is, they will say Susan Wagner. But sometimes, when I call my sons "Henry Husbandsname" or "Charlie Husbandsname," and they answer with "Mommy Husbandstname!" it makes me laugh. It's so charming and kind of them to want me to be the mommy, and to have their name. I love it.

The Sassy Tone makes them all annoying!
Elaine: There's something sassy about ""mama"" but my kids call me Mommy. Actually, my three year old calls me MOM. As in MOM MOM MOM I waaaaaant that!"
Heather Brewer: Anything but "Hey you!" will suffice, but if I hear "mother" (especially in that delightfully snotty tone tweens are predisposed to using), I can't help but roll my eyes (in that delightfully snotty way tweens are predisposed to doing).
Liz: You know, I really don't have a preference -- I'll answer to, basically anything -- but, I'll tell you what makes me cringe...any one of those names...when hollered like there's no tomorrow.
Example: Mommy, I can't seem to find my backpack! (No bother, even with an exclamation point)
MMMMMMOOOOOOMMMMMMYYYYYY (And there's really no need to finish, because I've pretty much bitten down hard enough to jam my eye teeth straight through my jawline and into my brain!)"
Erin-erin-bo-berin: I prefer 'Mommy'. I'm not looking forward to the teenage years with my daughters. I'm certain that I will eventually be "Muh-ther!"
Shelley:It seems like they usually call me "Mawwmm". Oddly enough, as I've aged, I've started to call my own mother "Mummy" so maybe there's hope that I'll get a better handle in the future. I guess I'm happy with "Mom". It's far better than the occassional "MO-ther," accompanied by eye-rolling.

I have no control over what they call me but I would prefer...
Vicky: My nickname is "Mom". My full name is "Mom Can I". I prefer the former.
Pamalamadingdong: My oldest son called me Moma for a longest time and I ADORED it because no one told him or taught him to call me that. It was what he chose to call me. They both call me Mommy now and it tickles me just to hear it...(mostly...sometimes though it makes me want to LOCK the bathroom door...unthinkable)
Nicole: Call me Mommy. All the hicks where I live say "mama," so this makes it easy to pick out my child's screams.
Leah: Mother sounds a little cold and sterile to me. My favorites are Mommy and Mama from a little kid, then just regular Mom from an older kid. However, we'll see what the baby decides to do. There are some things I just can't control..."
Mary Beth: He calls me Ma, and I answer. He calls me Da, and I answer. I figure when he's a little older, he'll settle on something -- Mommy, most likely -- and I'll love that, too.
Mamaloo: I like the term "mama" to describe myself. "Mother" sounds too formal and "mommy" is something my son calls me. In truth he calls me "mummy". Although, sometimes, when he is being very serious and in need of telling me how important he thinks I am, he hops up on my lap, holds my face in his chubby little three-year-old hands and says, quiety, deliberately and solemnly, "You my mother, Mummy. You my mother."
Mommy Chronicles From The Princess, who is nearly four, Mom or Mommy is preferred, but from Pumpkin who is about 9.5 months, I'll answer to "ball", "bye bye" or "up up"... all of those words are much more important to her vocabulary than "ma-ma".
Jazzy: I am a very new mother so have not yet been called anything by my daughter, but my husband calls me Mama which I like, but I think I will love hearing my daughter say, "Mommy." That is at least until it becomes her mantra, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy...

Jennifer Nybo: My kiddos call me Mama most of the time...mommy when they are sick or they are begging for toys! :) I prefer mama because...well...that is what they have chosen to call me and so it shall be.

Melissa: I don't really care what he calls me. Right now, he says a garbled momma and it's music to my ears. He also calls me nanna, so maybe he's confused.

What was the question again?

Anne: I'm called Mummy. I called my mother Mummy. My mother always called herself Mama but I never did. I blame peer pressure from the city slickers (my Mummy was from the country). Of course, Mama is all trendy now and I wish that I'd used that instead. I did try to tell my twin baby boys that I was called Mama but my elder daughter said "No you're not, you're Mummy'. So that's that then. Of course, if I wanted to be really trendy, I would have gone for Mammy as I understand that the Irish Mammy is now reinvented as the epitome of cool. Or maybe not.

Jaime: Mommy or mama are my preference. Occasionally my 3-year-old calls me mom and that just does not compute. Mom is very tween-esque and I'm hoping we still have quite a few years before she's too cool to call me mommy. My 14-month-old calls me "ma-ma," which was one of the first words in her vocabulary. (Sniff...)

Jane (Mamacita): When my children were little, I was Mommy, and I loved it. Now, I am Mom, unless my kids, big as they are, are sick or in need of me. When I email them, I sign as Mommy. When Tim and I refer to each other, to the kids, we are Mommy and Daddy, as in ""Daddy wants to talk to you, too"" or ""Don't forget to tell Mommy about that."
We do use our actual names when talking to each other; we've never called each other Mommy or Daddy. I am NOT my husband's Mommy and he is definitely not my Daddy. What a horrible thought."

Krisco: I am Mommy, dang it, and don't you forget it.
I made the mistake with my first child of allowing my husband's preferences to sway me, and he liked Mama.
GAG. I had so much baby-weight, had recentlly moved to a drought-ridden desert state (read: whose skin IS
this?) and now I was being called Mama - a name used by REALLY OLD OLD WOMEN. And now I was one? In a
couple short months?

When I finally got a little more sleep, and got close to my original-sized clothing, (but, sadly, my skin
was not getting any more hydrated) - I said, This is my name. I am NOT that old lady (yet). I don't
want to be called some stinky old lady name!

So, when she was about one and a half or two, I started correcting my little girl on my name. (And,
also, correcting my husband.) And she mostly happily obliged. (What a little gem.)(Plus they're so maleable
at that age!) (The husband was pretty amenable to change the moniker too, luckily.)

But sometimes my little girl forgets. Is it cruel to make a three-year-old restate the question when, in a
moment of excitement or fear, she blurts out: Mama!

Yes, yes, it probably is. But I do it anyway. She is sweet enough to restate, and both she and her baby
sister call me Mommy.

And the rule on this Mommy-name thing? Name your own damn self. Take into account whatever hang-ups and
perceptions you already have, and call yourself who you really are. Whatever that is."

.Ever heard of this one for a mom?

Emily G.: Since I have no kids, I'll talk about my mother. I call her "Marmulosity," which means the essence of the quality of being a loving mother. It derives from "Marmie," the mother in Little Women. I think my mother epitomizes the accomplishments a woman is capable of (has five degrees, runs a center in a university, conducts research, teaches) while at the same time being the best mother ever.

Jen3: Something else. I love Daddy. That's what they call me these days. Of course, that's what our triplets call everything these days. It works especially well when they wake up at 3 in the morning and call out "Daddy! Daddy!!" I just look at my husband and say, "Honey, they're calling you."

Ms. Mamita Mala: Mami. Because it's so versatile in Spanish. Mami isn't just something my kid calls me. My Spanish speaking friends call me it when they want to tell me something as in , ""But Mami wait till you hear this"". I am also fond of Mamota which is what my boyfriend calls me. It's like Mami but reads and sounds more like Big Mami"

Marla Good: Can I just tell you something that is just too adorable? The way she says my full name: Marwa Ayee Dood. And her own: Joseen Bossom Dood. The way she says her daddy’s name? Not as heart-meltingly cute as mine and hers, but for the heck of it, it’s Steben Oss Dood. If she could just hold off on pronouncing a hard G for a while longer, I’ll totally forgive her the tantrums and snotty-nose wiping issues and the habit of kicking off her shoes when riding in shopping carts. Dood instead of Good! (chortles and starts looking through wallet for pictures to show)