What part of the country uses the word kiddo to refer to a child?

I think it’s a new thing and I’m not fond of it.

I’ve heard it my all life. I call my daughters kids kiddos sometimes.

I used to hear it used only as a form of address, calling a particular child “kiddo” in some context, as in, “You’re looking good, kiddo,” or “Better wait a minute there, kiddo”—never speaking about someone as a “kiddo.”

It’s like addressing someone as, say, “sonny.” You might say “Nice bike, sonny.” You would never say “I have two sonnies” or “Tell your sonnies they can come swim in our pool.” Calling people “kiddos” in the third person sounds just as weird to me.

But I have heard a teacher, for example, refer to her whole class as “kiddos”—“I’m going to let the kiddos have a terrarium in the classroom.” “Half of the kiddos are sick this week.”

You know what? Referring to mothers as “moms” bothers me just as much, and that’s a pretty old practice by now. You call your mother “Mom” (or “Mum” or whatever), but she isn’t A mom, to me. It’s a name, not a category.

I could hear Joe Biden say it.

@SnipSnip What state are you in?

@Jeruba Now that you point it out, I too used to hear, “how ya doing kiddo?” Or, something similar back in the day. I think it was in movies and shows slightly before my time rather than in real life. That wasn’t necessarily aimed at young children I don’t think.

What I’m seeing written now is, “my kiddos love Animal Kingdom.” Or, “I want to get my kiddos Mickey popcorn buckets, where can I buy them?”

I usually call my mom (there’s that word) mommy or ma when speaking directly to her. I call her mommy when speaking to my sister. I rarely use mother. Mother sometimes sounds unloving to me. More formal than familial. I do use mother in some circumstances, but never when addressing my mother directly.

My aunt used to call me kiddo, that was in the 70’s (when I was a kid). I live in NY.

I have heard it all my life, everywhere I’ve lived.

Rural boomers use it here. My father in law always says ‘How ya doing kiddo.’

I’ve heard it in the Midwest, but anyone with access to a thesaurus might say it.

I’ve heard it all my life as well and see it as kind of older slang.

Like @KNOWITALL I use it as a term of endearment, especially for close friends with names taht don’t invite a short sweet version.

I’ve heard it often. “Taking the kiddos to school.”
Chip and Joanna Gains, of HGTV fame always call their kids kiddos. They live Waco, Texas.

@JLeslie Referring to your kids in the third person as “kiddos” sounds like a different usage than the way I’ve heard it used in the past. Usually I’ve heard it as others have referred to it before in the second person like, “How you doing, kiddo?”

What @chyna just mentioned, “Taking the kiddos to school” sounds a little different and newer but I wouldn’t ascribe it to any part of the country.

I see FB posts where moms might write “Spending the weekend camping with the kiddos” and stuff like that. I don’t think of it as regional slang, but maybe it is.

My aunt from near Poughkeepsie, NY used “kiddo” as far back as I can recall. She’s the only one that immediately comes to mind.

@gorillapaws

My mother who grew up in Saratoga Springs, NY was the only person I’ve ever heard calling someone “kiddo”.

@janbb I think you and I have a similar feeling about the use of the word. Actually, @Jeruba pointed it out at the top, I hadn’t thought about it that way until her comment.

Like @Jeruba I’ve only really heard it used in the second person, to address a child, never as a substitute for “kid” or “kids” in the 3rd person. I didn’t know that was regional. “Kiddo” is a way I was occasionally addressed by my parents (both of my parents grew up in the Bay Area and I wouldn’t know where they picked it up).

I should add that I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used in Virginia or the Bay Area, for whatever that’s worth. Perhaps excluding geographies may be useful as well, if the idea is to narrow down where it is used.

I have no idea if it’s regional, I was just wondering aloud if it might be.

Grew up in California. Pretty sure I’ve heard it all my life.

Though it may be generational, as I’ve seen some younger parents comment that they dislike this term?

@gorillapaws I live in the San Francsico Bay Area and I use ‘kiddo”, and so (independently) does my ex wife.

My ex uses it aggresivey, as in, “don’t tell me you haven’t cashed your check, kiddo!”. while I use it affectinately, as in “hey kiddo, are you free for dinner on Wednesday?”

@zenvelo Interesting. I lived there as a kid in the 80’s and visit occasionally. I can’t recall hearing it there, but obviously you’re a better authority than me on the subject, seeing as how you live there now (and possibly for a long time?).

I think of the second person usage as kind of an old movie or New York City kind of thing but it’s clearly not just that.

@gorillapaws Didn’t grow up in the Bay Area. But live here now. Lots of B&R old timers who use the term.

I’m 50 and grew up in MA. Heard it my whole life – but mostly in the way that @Jeruba refers to.

I tried to identify popularity of the word by doing some searches. Google Ngram Viewer shows a steep increase around 2000. There was also the Lewinsky stuff, where Clinton used to call her kiddo.

I’ve heard it my whole life from my parents, who were from Iowa, and I also heard it in VT. Sounds like it’s across the country – CA, NY, TX, MA, IA

@zenvelo Your wife would say, “my kiddos like to play soccer.”

@JLeslie I might, but she wouldn’t. She used it aggressively, like discipling one of the kids: “you got another think coming kiddo!”

Got it. Lol.

It’s not new. I’m from California. It’s used as a term of endearment or familiarity, kind of in the same way the word “guys” is used for people, only for children, more specifically. I’ve heard it used all my life, usually from relatives.