Within Chinese families, people do not call each other by their names, but instead by words indicating their mutual relationship. There are dozens of different names used to address younger or elder sisters, brothers of various ages, uncles and aunties from the mother’s and father’s side, younger brother’s wife, elder sister’s husband, father’s little sister and mother’s younger brother… not to mention cousins of various ages. Better not to try to grasp it all at once.

Parents address their children in two ways. One way is to call them, according to their age from the eldest to the youngest, lǎo dà (the eldest), lǎo èr (the second eldest), lǎo sān (the third eldest), etc until the youngest regardless of sex. The second way is to call sons and daughters separately. Sons are called, from the eldest to the youngest, dà ér zi (the eldest son), èr ér zi (the second eldest son) ... and the youngest is called xiǎo érzi. It is the same for the daughters who are called dà nǔ’ér (the eldest daughter), èr nǔ’ér (the second eldest daughter) ... until xiɑo nǔ’ér (the youngest daughter). The daughter-in-law is called er xi, and son-in-law is called nǔ xǜ. The wife of the eldest son is called dà èr xí (the eldest daughter-in-law). The husband of the second eldest daughter is called èr nǔxǜ (the second eldest son-in-law).

Grandparents call the son’s children sūn zi (grandson) or sūn nü (granddaughter), the daughter’s children wài sun (grandson) or wài sūn nü (granddaughter). “Wài” indicates they have a different surname. Accordingly, the son’s children call grandparents yéye(paternal grandfather) and nǎi nai (paternal grandmother). The daughter’s children call grandparents wài gōng (maternal grandfather) and wài pó maternal grandmother), who in North China are also called lǎoy e and lǎo lao respectively.

The son, the daughter-in-law, the daughter and the son-in-law address the parents in the same way as bà bɑ and mā mɑ when talking to them (also diē and niáng in northern China). But in the absence of the parents, the daughter-in-law can call her husband’s parents gōng gong (father-in-law) and pó po (mother-in-law), and the son-in-law can call his wife’s parents yuè fù and yuè mǔ, or zhàng ren and zhàng mu niɑng.

The terms of address for the siblings of father and mother are different. Father’s elder brother is called bó bo (paternal uncle), and his younger brother shū shu (paternal uncle), while his sisters are called gū gu or gū mā (paternal aunt). Mother’s brothers are all called jìu jìu (maternal uncle), and her sisters yí or yí mā (maternal aunt). For example, “sān shū” is the third younger brother of father, and “dà yí” is the mother’s eldest sister. 
 
In daily life, some terms of address for the relatives are often used for non-relatives. For instance, the man a little older than father and mother is addressed as bó bo, and the man younger shū shu. Females are generally called ā yí by younger people of the next generation. In Beijing and some other regions, they are also called dà mā. Old people of grandfather’s and grandmother’s age can also be addressed as yé ye and nǎi nai.