Ma Lexicon
Ma is the name Marcus Levi Washington II (Junior) and Marcus Levi Washington III use for Denise Washington, the matriarch of the Washington Family. Junior always thinks of his mother as “Ma,” never “Denise,” “Mrs. Washington,” or “Mom.”
Origin and Etymology
“Ma” is a common kinship term in Black American families, carrying a register that is distinct from “Mom” or “Mother.” It is warmer than “Mother,” less formal than “Mom,” and culturally specific in a way that signals the household it comes from. In the Washington family’s West Baltimore context, “Ma” is the natural, unthinking name a son calls the woman who raised him.
Usage and Context
Junior’s use of “Ma” is reflexive; it is the word that exists in the space where his mother lives in his mind. To him, she is and always will be “Ma.”
Marcus Washington III carries the same usage forward, though his relationship with Denise has its own tenor—she is the grandmother who screams at his basketball games, who tells strangers about his career, who fills every room she enters with sound and warmth.
Emotional and Cultural Connotations
The word “Ma” in the Washington household carries the full weight of Denise’s personality: loud, warm, physically emphatic, impossible to ignore. It is a name that sounds like what it describes—open-mouthed, resonant, the kind of syllable you can shout across a house or murmur into a hug. Denise Washington is constitutionally, irrepressibly loud, and “Ma” is a word built to match that energy.
Related Terms and Synonyms
See also: Pop - Lexicon
“Pop” and “Ma” are the paired kinship names that anchor the Washington household.