28: First Words Jan 5, 2015

Today Word Facts is doing something different to word origins: original words. Here is a list of the top 15 most common first words a baby might say:
1. Dad (or Dada, Daddy, Papa, etc.)
2. Mom (or Mama, Mommy, Mum, etc.)
3. Hi (or Hiya, Hey, Heya, Hello)
4. Buba (or Bub or Baba)
5. Dog (or Doggy, Puppy)
6. Ball
7. No
8. Cat (or Kitty)
9. Nana
10. Bye
11. Duck
12. Ta (or Tata)
13. Baby
14. Uh oh
15. Car

Not surprisingly, variations of dad and mom top the list, with 52 percent of surveyed respondents citing a first word related to dad (#1), and 35 percent of respondents offering up mom (#2).
Why do dads seem to get the first word honor more often? One reason is that the d sound is easier for babies to utter than the m sound. Animal words starting with a hard consonant are also common first words, so there is a reason the baby might say duck (#11), dog (#5), or cat (#8) before mom(#2).
Other high-frequency first words are the ones baby hear us say a lot for instance "uh oh" or "no".