Bengali Family Relationship Names Explained (English to Bengali Guide)

If you've ever sat through a Bengali family gathering and heard someone rattle off "Mejo Pishi" or "Notun Mama" and wondered exactly who that was, you're not alone. Bengali kinship terms are famously specific. Where English gets by with just "uncle," "aunt," and "cousin" for almost everyone outside the immediate family, Bengali has a separate word for nearly every relationship, depending on whether the relative is on your mother's side or your father's, older or younger than your parent, and connected to you by blood or by marriage.

That precision is a gift if you're building a family tree. It tells you, just from the word someone uses, exactly how a relative fits into the family structure, generation and all. This guide walks through the most common Bengali family relationship names in plain English, so you can label relatives correctly, follow along at a family function, or make sense of names an elder used when telling you a story about your ancestors.

Immediate Family

The innermost circle is simple, but already has one twist worth knowing:

• Baba - father
• Ma - mother
• Dada - elder brother
• Bhai - younger brother (also used generically for "brother")
• Didi - elder sister
• Bon - younger sister (also used generically for "sister")
• Chele - son
• Meye - daughter

That twist: in Bengali, "Dada" means elder brother, not grandfather as it does in Hindi and several other Indian languages. If you grew up around both Bengali and Hindi-speaking relatives, this mix-up is extremely common at family gatherings, and it's worth clarifying early when you're recording family history so names don't get attached to the wrong generation on your tree.

Grandparents

Grandparent terms vary a little between West Bengal and Bangladesh, and even from family to family, but the most widely used forms are:

• Dadu or Thakurdada - paternal grandfather
• Thakuma - paternal grandmother
• Dadu or Dadamoshai - maternal grandfather (many families use "Dadu" for both grandfathers and rely on context)
• Didima or Dida - maternal grandmother

Because "Dadu" is sometimes used for either grandfather, it's worth noting which side of the family a "Dadu" belonged to when you're recording oral history. Future generations reading your notes won't have the context you have right now.

Aunts, Uncles, and Their Bengali Names

This is where Bengali kinship really shows its precision. Every aunt and uncle has a distinct name depending on which parent they're related to, and whether they're older or younger than that parent:

• Jyathamoshai - father's elder brother; his wife is Jethima
• Kaka - father's younger brother; his wife is Kakima
• Pishi (or Pishima) - father's sister; her husband is Pishemoshai
• Mama - mother's brother; his wife is Mami
• Mashi (or Maashi) - mother's sister; her husband is Mesho (or Meshomoshai)

Notice the pattern: a relative's title tells you their side of the family (Kaka and Jyathamoshai are always paternal; Mama and Mashi are always maternal), and often their relative age too (Jyathamoshai is older than your father, Kaka is younger). When you're interviewing an elder relative about the family tree, asking "was that your Kaka or your Jyathamoshai?" can pin down someone's exact position in the family faster than any amount of guessing.

Many families also add "Boro" (eldest), "Mejo" (middle), "Notun" or "Choto" (youngest) in front of these titles when there are several siblings of the same type, for example "Boro Mama" for the eldest maternal uncle or "Choto Pishi" for the youngest paternal aunt.

In-Laws and Marriage Relations

Bengali is just as precise once marriage enters the picture:

• Shoshur - father-in-law
• Shashuri - mother-in-law
• Jamai (or Jamaibabu for an elder sister's husband) - son-in-law, or a sister's husband
• Bouma or Bou - daughter-in-law, or one's wife
• Boudi - elder brother's wife
• Bhasur - husband's elder brother
• Debor - husband's younger brother
• Nanad - husband's sister
• Shala - wife's brother
• Shali - wife's sister

As with the aunts and uncles, these terms encode both the relationship and its direction, so a Bengali family tree, once labeled correctly, actually tells a small story about how the family expanded through marriage over generations.

Why This Matters for Your Family Tree

When you're documenting a Bengali family's history, English labels like "uncle" or "cousin" flatten information that the original Bengali terms preserved. If an elder relative described someone as their "Mejo Kaka's chele," that single phrase already tells you the generation, the side of the family, and the birth order, information that's easy to lose once it's translated into English and separated from the person who remembers it. Recording the original Bengali term alongside the English translation, even just in a note on that person's profile, keeps that context intact for whoever looks at the tree next, whether that's your children or a cousin researching the same family decades from now.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do you call your father's younger brother in Bengali?

He's your Kaka, and his wife is your Kakima. Your father's elder brother is a separate term, Jyathamoshai, with his wife called Jethima.

Is "Dada" used for brother or grandfather in Bengali?

In Bengali, "Dada" means elder brother. This is different from Hindi and Urdu, where a similar-sounding word can refer to a paternal grandfather, so it's a common point of confusion in mixed-language families.

What is the Bengali word for mother-in-law and father-in-law?

Mother-in-law is Shashuri and father-in-law is Shoshur. These terms are used by both a son's wife and a daughter's husband to refer to their spouse's parents.

Do Bengali family terms differ between West Bengal and Bangladesh?

The core terms are shared, since they come from the same language, but pronunciation and a few specific words (especially for grandparents) can vary by region and by individual family custom. When in doubt, ask the family what term they actually used.

Why do Bengali families use different words for elder and younger siblings?

Bengali culture traditionally places importance on birth order within a family, and the language reflects that directly: "Dada" and "Didi" for elder siblings, "Bhai" and "Bon" for younger ones, with the same elder/younger distinction carried through to aunts, uncles, and their spouses.

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