'But the moment they were born, we became Dad and Daddy.' Another gay couple I speak to say they go by 'Mommy and Mommy2'. I wonder if this seems a bit hierarchical to Mommy2? Some names are a bit cutesy for my liking, but then same-sex couples do not have the thousands of years of precedent to follow, as straight couples do. One lesbian I know has her daughter call her by her first name, because she cannot abide the sugary labels others chose. 'We know other same-sex parents that started off as one thing, but ended up as something else as the child got older,' says Drewitt-Barlow. 'What sounds cute when children are young can sound silly as they grow.'Īnother lesbian couple (who have now split up) each gave birth to a child, and find that their children distinguish between the birth mother and the co-parent: 'My birth child calls me Mummy and my ex, Lala. My ex's birth child calls her Mummy and me Makma.' Helen Lawson and her partner Sarah have two children. 'We are Mummy Helen and Mummy Sarah, or Mum and Momma. But sometimes they just say Mum and we both answer.' 'Our kids used to get some very strange comments from other children at school when it came to Mother's Day,' laughs Drewitt-Barlow.