Mummy, Daddy or Car? Babies’ first words worldwide
Baby talk is a language of similarities across the world it seems as new research reveals the most common first words that come out of the mouths of babies. One of the most memorable milestones in your child’s life is when they say their first word. Some parents spend months repeating their name to their little ones in the hope it will be the first word they say.
Little is known about the effect of language, culture and location on babies’ vocabularies or whether these factors influence a baby’s first word.
A survey of the most and least common first words across different countries also revealed if ‘Mummy’ or ‘Daddy’ is more popular, unique first words and the most common words said as babies grow from eight to 26 months old.
Most common first word worldwide is officially ‘Mummy’ as babies in 12 out of 33 countries learn mum’s name first.
However, in most cases, dad is not too far behind. In ten out of those dozen Mummy-loving countries, ‘Daddy’ is the next most spoken word.
It’s different in Mexico, where ‘Water’ is the second most common word said by babies while in Slovakia, it’s ‘Grandmother’. In both countries ‘Daddy’ ranks in third place. In seven countries, the most popular first word is ‘Daddy’. In all of these seven countries, the next most popular word said by babies is ‘Mummy’.
The most common first words (or a translation where necessary) in each country were found to be ... Germany - Mama, Russia - Mommy, Israel - Car, Italy - Mamma, Turkey - Baba (Daddy), Canada - Papa, United States - Mommy, Czechia Máma (Mummy), Latvia - Māte (Mummy), Croatia - Tata (Daddy), Mexico - Mamá (Mummy), Norway - Mamma (Mummy), South Korea - Daddy, Spain Papá (Daddy), China - (Daddy), Sweden - Mamma, Denmark - Hej (Hi), Greece - Grandma, France - Papa, Portugal - Mãe (Mummy), Great Britain - Mummy, Australia - Jam, Slovakia Mama.
Further findings from the research revealed: The most common first word in Australia is ‘Jam’, the most common first word in Israel is ‘Car’ while the most unique first word in Canada is ‘Goose’.
In the US, UK, Mexico, Australia and China, baby girls pick up more words than boys.
See https://www.babysensemonitors.com/blogs/news/aworld-of-first-words for more.