Irish Mammies are famous around the world. They are renowned for their caring, protective, nurturing instinct, as well as their bossy and take-no-nonsense manner.

But is their one trait that sums up the Irish Mammy? Apparently there is.

According to a recent survey, “needless fussing” is the habit that most Irish Mammies share.

Aren’t we an ungrateful bunch? Our Mammies only want to make sure we are well fed and won’t catch a cold.

The research carried out by One4All found that 80% of mums are proud to be classed as a ‘typical Irish Mammy’.

Of course Irish Mammies are famously strict with their kids, so it is possibly surprising that only 55% of people surveyed said their Mammy was the stricter of their two parents.

The names we call our mothers also varies, with Mum the most common at 25%, Mam close in second with 21% and Mammy third with 18%.

Geographically, Munster mothers are most likely to be called Mam.

In return, our Mammies have a few different terms of endearment for us kids. The most popular is ‘love’ with 11%, ‘baby’ was second with 10.2%, and ‘pet’ came third with 9.8%.

It is no surprise that boys are 20% more likely to become a ‘Mammy’s boy’ than girls are to become a ‘Mammy’s girl’. Of course we are, love you mum!

Other fun findings from the survey included the country’s favourite Mammyisms.

The top one was ‘Do you think I’m made of money?’, with ‘What did your last maid die of?’ and Did you turn off the immersion?’ also popular answers.

Written by Andrew Moore