In Ireland, they are called a wake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_(ceremony)

That Wikipedia page says viewings are basically the same as a wake. Are viewings not common in the U.S? They're common in Utah.

When my dad died, before the viewing there was the period right after death where my siblings and I sat in the room with his body and talked until the mortuary picked him up.

My suspicion is that the proliferation of cremation has significantly reduced the incidence of wakes. That, and US American society has so much functional separation that most of us probably interact very little with the elderly, thus also not ending up at many funerals.

I'm from the Southeastern US. They seem pretty common here.

We have wakes and visitations in Canada too, but they are held at funeral homes for brief periods - not in the home of the deceased or a loved one. I think this might be the same as the Jewish ritual of “sitting shiva”?? But I am not sure.

One of my dad's oft-told stories is of having his grandmother "in the living room" overnight prior to her funeral. He didn't use a particular term for it but said he found it quite terrifying as a 4-5 year old at the time. (This would be in the 1950s in the UK.)

I couldn't quite follow the wording, but it sounded like open-casket visitation, but at home instead of a funeral home.

Yes I agree. Was this a common ritual anytime recently in North America? I have heard of it back in the 1800s but only ever heard of funeral homes for visitations anytime more recently.

Possibly “visitation” in the American south, unless I’m misremembering or misinterpreting the parent comment.

Are visitations held inside a private home? We have them in Canada but they are invariably (in my experience) held in a funeral home.