Family Relationship Names in Nepali: What to Call Every Relative

Nepali has no single word for "uncle." Your father's elder brother is thulobuba (ठूलोबुबा), his younger brother is kaka (काका), your mother's brother is mama (मामा), and your father's sister's husband is phupaju (फुपाजु) — four different people, four different words. Every Nepali relationship name answers three questions English skips: which side of the family, older or younger, and blood or marriage. This guide lists them all in one place — your own family, grandparents, both sides, in-laws, and six generations of grandchildren — in Nepali script with romanization.

A few words to start with

• परिवार (parivar) — family
• नाता or नाता सम्बन्ध (nata, nata sambandha) — relation, relationship
• नातागोता (natagota) — relatives collectively, the extended family
• आफन्त or नातेदार (aafanta, natedar) — a relative
• माइती (maiti) — a married woman's parental home; ससुराली (sasurali) — the in-laws' home

Your own family

English lets you say "my brother" without saying whether he's older or younger. Nepali doesn't: dai (दाइ) and bhai (भाइ) are different words, and you'd address them differently. The collective words that skip the age distinction are dajubhai (दाजुभाइ, brothers) and didibahini (दिदीबहिनी, sisters).

In everyday speech you'll also hear ba or baba for father and muma for mother. Husband and wife are sometimes logne (लोग्ने) and swasni (स्वास्नी), especially in villages, but these can sound blunt — shriman (श्रीमान्) and shrimati (श्रीमती) are the polite, standard forms.

Grandparents and great-grandparents

Here Nepali is as simple as English: hajurbuba and hajuraama on both sides. (Hindi is the one that splits them — dada/dadi for your father's parents, nana/nani for your mother's.) Many families also call maternal grandparents baje (बाजे) and bajai (बजै).

Father's side

The thulobuba / kaka split is the best-known example of how Nepali kinship works — and it isn't just vocabulary; a father's elder brother is traditionally addressed with more formality. A father's sister, on the other hand, is phupu whether she's older or younger than him.

Mother's side

There's a pattern hiding in this table. Your mother's elder sister is thuli-aama — literally "big mother," the same word as your father's elder brother's wife. And her husband becomes thulobuba, the same word as your father's elder brother. Nepali treats a mother's sisters as additional mothers, so their husbands step into the father's slot. Mama, meanwhile, matches nothing on the father's side — he's a category of his own.

Nephews and nieces

English has nephew and niece. Nepali asks who the parent is: a brother's children are bhatija / bhatiji, a sister's children are bhanja / bhanji.

Cousins

All eight of these are just "cousin" in English. In Nepali, the children of your father's brothers and your mother's sisters count as your own brothers and sisters — dajubhai and didibahini — and you'd call them dai, bhai, didi or bahini by age. Children of your father's sister or your mother's brother are more often described: phupuko chhora (aunt's son), mamako chhori (maternal uncle's daughter). This is where South Asian English gets "cousin brother" and "cousin sister" from — see our guide to that phrase.

In-laws

A wife's parents are sasura and sasu too. Beyond that, almost every row above is "brother-in-law" or "sister-in-law" in English, while Nepali tracks age on nearly every one: your husband's elder brother is jethaju, his younger brother dewar; your wife's elder brother is jethan, her younger brother sala.

The most interesting detail is generational. Your younger brother's wife is buhari — the same word as your son's wife. Your younger sister's husband is jwain — the same word as your daughter's husband. But your elder brother's wife is bhauju, and your elder sister's husband is bhinaju. In other words, Nepali places a younger sibling's spouse one generation below you, and an elder sibling's spouse in a position of respect.

Grandchildren, down six generations

A son's son and a daughter's son are both nati in Nepali. After that, names depend only on how many generations down, not which line: nati → jijunati → panati → khanati → janati. For a girl, add -ni: natini, jijunatini, panatini. There's more on this in our grandchildren guide.

Step and adopted family

Sautaini (सौतेनी) covers both step-parents and half-siblings in everyday Nepali. Folk tales have given the word a slightly negative edge, so many families simply call these relatives aama, buba, dai or bahini instead. An adopted son is also called dharmaputra (धर्मपुत्र).

Why this matters for kids growing up abroad

Nepali children raised in the US, UK or Australia often end up calling every older relative "uncle" and "aunty." When the words go, the relationships blur with them — a child who doesn't know the difference between kaka and mama doesn't really know which half of the family each one belongs to. Printing this list and sticking it on the fridge is a good start. The hard part is a real family, where you eventually need to know what to call your mother's uncle's daughter's husband.

Prefer reading in Nepali? यही लेख नेपालीमा पढ्नुहोस्.