Although she’s excited about her new role, baby [name]Jane[/name] [name]Violet[/name]'s maternal “grandmother” (my daughter) is fairly young – 43 – to take on that title and has been trying to come up with a name for [name]Jane[/name] to call her.
It used to be that nearly every woman who was fortunate to have a grandchild was called “Grandma”, but now “the G-word”, as I used to say , is not as much in favor. When I became a “grandmother” at age 41, I immediately announced that I would be [name]Nana[/name], and my husband, who wouldn’t have minded being “Grandpa” at all, somehow became “Papa”. I’ve told [name]Catherine[/name] she can be “[name]Nana[/name]” also (just as we’re both “Mom” to our children), but she says [name]Nana[/name] is my name in the family, and she wants a different title. (I have many young grandchildren, so that [name]Jane[/name] will grow up with her mother’s young cousins who are just slightly older than she, with one almost exactly her age (due in [name]April[/name]). They all call me “[name]Nana[/name]” and I expect [name]Jane[/name] will too.)
If you were to become a grandmother in your early 40s, would you be “Grandma” or go by a different grandma sort of name?
[name]Do[/name] you have any suggestions for my daughter?
We always called my paternal g-ma ‘Babushka’ or ‘Yaya’ both are titles for Grandmother in Russian and Greek
some other titles I’ve heard or come across are
Wait! Did your daughter already give birth? (I think I’m behind!) Congratulations, [name]Ellen[/name]! I love the name [name]Jane[/name] [name]Violet[/name]!
If she wants a different name besides ‘Grandma’ I think there’s no reason for her not to come up with something different. There’s lots of good inspiration for different grandparent names. Perhaps her cultural heritage might have a good name to use, that’s what my mother chose when her first grandchild was born, and my husband’s german grandmother was Omi. You can google any language and find the name used for grandmothers. If that doesn’t appeal, I think these four names feel a little younger and sassier to me, but it’s all a matter of taste, so she should look around a bit and find what appeals to her.
Gammie
Gamma
[name]GiGi[/name]
[name]MiMi[/name]
(I also like [name]Mamie[/name], Marmie, and [name]Nonna[/name] from the above post)
I’ve known someone to call her grandmother Cici (C.C.), and I think this could be really sweet since your daughter, [name]Jane[/name]'s grandmother, is named [name]Catherine[/name]. As [name]Jane[/name] ages, perhaps one day, [name]Catherine[/name] will want to be called Grandma Cici…
[name]Mamie[/name], [name]Mimi[/name], Mee Maw, [name]Nona[/name], [name]Oma[/name] ([name]German[/name]), and Ya Ya (Greek) are all sweet ones, too!
I’m glad to see [name]Gigi[/name]/[name]GiGi[/name] come up in each response because that’s the name/“title” my daughter has been considering. I thought [name]GiGi[/name] might refer to Great-Grandma, but it was confirmed on the website [name]Jill[/name] suggested that [name]GiGi[/name] is a name for Grandma. I will pass this along to my daughter. Thanks so much!
If you want to be Grandma in your early forties I don’t see a problem.
However, [name]Catherine[/name] may feel that she is stealing your thunder if she goes by [name]Nana[/name] too, so if that is the case and you think she really wants the [name]Nana[/name] moniker just reassure her that you don’t mind her sharing the [name]Nana[/name] title.
My son’s children call both myself and their other grandmother [name]Nanny[/name]. However, early in the peace we found out when talking to the first grandchild on the phone we had to differentiate to the child which [name]Nanny[/name] she was talking to.
We told our granddaughter that I was [name]Nanny[/name] plus my first name but the other nanny was just called [name]Nanny[/name].
Well out of that we found out that the she started to call the one who was just [name]Nanny[/name] “[name]Just[/name] [name]Nanny[/name]” and I am [name]Nanny[/name] plus first name.
Who would have thought that the child would think that [name]Just[/name] and [name]Nanny[/name] was a name?
Anyway we think it is really cute having a “[name]Just[/name] [name]Nanny[/name]”.
We are all happy and now that the grandchildren are getting older they often call me [name]Nanny[/name].
Another alternative is [name]Nan[/name] which I really like.
, is not as much in favor. When I became a “grandmother” at age 41, I immediately announced that I would be [name]Nana[/name], and my husband, who wouldn’t have minded being “Grandpa” at all, somehow became “Papa”. I’ve told [name]Catherine[/name] she can be “[name]Nana[/name]” also (just as we’re both “Mom” to our children), but she says [name]Nana[/name] is my name in the family, and she wants a different title. (I have many young grandchildren, so that [name]Jane[/name] will grow up with her mother’s young cousins who are just slightly older than she, with one almost exactly her age (due in [name]April[/name]). They all call me “[name]Nana[/name]” and I expect [name]Jane[/name] will too.)
I love the name [name]Jane[/name] [name]Violet[/name]!