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Question: Is honorific “uncle” common across the languages of the world?

In Russian and English (and as far as I know Chinese) it's customary for kids to use honorific "uncle" when addressing elders by name (as a kid, you'd rather call an adult "uncle John" than "John", even if he's not your uncle).

In Russian, kids would also refer to a male stranger as "uncle".

Is is common across the languages of the world?

As a side question, is it ever used in languages which don't have a generic word for "uncle" (as opposed to "father's brother" and "mother's brother")? If yes, which "uncle" would they use?

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Answer:

In Thai, calling people as they were your relatives, is a linguistic norm. Here are some details first:

1. There are two distinct words for "brother/sister":

   1. พี่ [pʰîː] — elder brother/sister;
   2. น้อง [nɔ́ːŋ] — younger brother/sister;

   One can also use ชาย or สาว suffix to clarify brother vs. sister, e.g., น้องชาย = "younger brother"

2. There are four distinct words for uncle/aunt:

   1. ลุง [luŋ] — elder brother of either your mother or father;
   2. ป้า [pâː] — elder sister of your mother/father;
   3. อา [ʔaː] — younger brother/sister of your mother;
   4. น้า [náː] — younger brother/sister of your father;

3. There are also four distinct words for paternal/maternal grandmother/grandfather:

   1. ปู่ [pùː] — paternal grandfather;
   2. ย่า [jâː] — paternal grandmother;
   3. ตา [taː] — maternal grandfather;
   4. ยาย [jaːj] — maternal grandmother;

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As I said, using family member pronouns is very common in modern Thai. It is also considered pretty much polite (politeness is an important aspect of the language).

1. If a stranger's age and social status looks like he/she could be your elder brother/sister, call them พี่ [pʰîː]. If their age is equal to yours, use the same word for politeness.

   Note, however, that in Russian, calling a stranger "brother" is somewhat excessively vulgar. Unlike in Thai, where people effectively use "brother/sister" instead the word "friend".

2. If a stranger is certainly younger than you, use น้อง [nɔ́ːŋ];

3. If they are in the age of your parents, use ลุง [luŋ] for males and ป้า [pâː] for females.
   1. Sometimes, people use constructs like คุณลุง [kʰun luŋ] "mister uncle".
   2. The same applies if you are talking to an official (e.g., a police officer). It is polite to call them "Mr. Name" or "Mr. officer", not "brother".
   3. You can also use แม่ [mɛ̂ː] "mother" or พ่อ [pʰɔ̂ː] "father" to show some warmness if your friendship lasts longer.
4. If they are in the age of your grandparents, yet again, they use paternal word for "grandfather" ปู่ [pùː] and maternal word for "grandmother" ยาย [jaːj].
5. Addressing someone who is in age of your children in not an exception, either. Use ลูก [lûːk] "child".

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For further details, I would recommend this great lesson by Stuart Jay Raj: Not Just You and Me - Getting past Khun คุณ Phom ผม and ดิฉัน DiChan in Thai (Youtube)

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Other languages. There are many dialects of Thai, and all they have dialectal forms of family member pronouns. And they do use them just the way I described above. So I suppose that many languages from Asian/Pacific region take similar approach for addressing strangers. I haven't checked specifically, however.