Japan is a linguistic minefield and defies generalization. In Ainu &#x27;nanna&#x27; is mother and in Okinawan it&#x27;s &#x27;anma&#x27;. In Old Japanese there&#x27;s &#x27;haha&#x27; (and variants - &#x27;papa&#x27; appears to have been prevelent in Old Japanese, see link in cousin post) and &#x27;amo&#x27;.<p>Also note: while &#x27;mama&#x27; is a loanword it&#x27;s overwhelmingly what babies call their mothers in Japan i.e. it has outcompeted other words likely for the same reasons as said in the article.