Grandparent nicknames

What did/do you call your grandparents?
What do your children call theirs?
What about great and step grandparents?

I called both sets of grandparents Grandma and Grandpa. We’re not that creative in my family, I guess. :slight_smile: I have a set of step-grandparents and call them Gramz and Gramps.

I don’t have children yet, but my kids will probably use Grandma and Grandpa for my mom and dad, and YeYe and Nai Nai for my husband’s parents (as those are the typical Mandarin names). My nephew calls my step-mom Ya Ya, which I think is totally adorable and I’ll probably use that for her too with our kids.

As for great grandparents, unfortunately I never got to meet any of them.

I had Grandma & Grandpa and [name_f]Nanny[/name_f] & Grandad. Only one of my great grandparents was still alive when I was born, we called her [name_f]Nanny[/name_f] [name_m]Bond[/name_m] ([name_m]Bond[/name_m] was her surname) She lived in [name_f]England[/name_f] so I only met her once.

My children call my parents Grandma & Grandpa and my in-laws [name_f]Nana[/name_f] & Grandad. They have 2 surviving great grandparents (both on my husbands side) but we only have contact with one of them, Grandma [name_m]Job[/name_m]. ([name_m]Job[/name_m] is her surname).

We called (still do occasionally!) my dads parents [name_f]Nanny[/name_f] and Grandad Totham and my Mum’s mum [name_f]Nanny[/name_f] Maldon after the places the live :slight_smile: Sadly Grandad Maldon died when I was really little so I don’t remember him much.
I joke to my in-laws that when we do have children, they will call them Pops and Grammy :slight_smile:

I call my Mum’s mom Grams and my Dad’s parents are Granny and Grandpa

My grandparents are [name_f]Nanny[/name_f] & Popop. Now my daughter calls them [name_f]Nana[/name_f] & Popop. I still say [name_f]Nanny[/name_f] so maybe she will end up calling her that as her language skills develop. We’ll see.

My daughter has both sets of grandparents and we’ve had name trouble since day 1. My husband is Russian and his family live here, but they live separate from all signs of American culture and speak English only at work (where they mostly just program computers & don’t speak at all really) & to me, the only English speaker in their private lives. So they are Dieda & [name_f]Baba[/name_f]. Dieda, sounding similar to the common American term for father & [name_f]Baba[/name_f], sounding like the common American baby-speak for a bottle. So my husband is called Papa by our daughter. Of our American friends, she is the only child who calls her father this, so we received various bibs, tshirts, books & cards that say Daddy, Dada & Dad. I also know that in stores non-Russian speakers have probably assumed that my elderly FIL was my husband cause my baby is screaming Dada at him.
Meanwhile my mother told me she wanted to be called Grandmama. A mouthful that my daughter can’t say. She started calling her [name_f]Gigi[/name_f], which my mother spent months refusing to be addressed as! She said it meant Great-Grandmother! She decided she would be ok with Gammy and that my daughter should be able to say that. Months later, she still can only say [name_f]Gigi[/name_f] & my mom finally backed down. It was so sad for me to see my daughter get so excited and happy to be able to call her [name_f]Gigi[/name_f] by something she could say & to get validated & get my mother’s attention when she said [name_f]Gigi[/name_f]! I really don’t know what all of the trouble over [name_f]Gigi[/name_f] did for her, but I guess she just enjoys any power play she can manage with me & she doesn’t get many opportunities to really hold anything over me, so this was that for her!
My father, my daughter calls him Dude. Yes, Dude. I think cause she hears me say Dad!

Those are all the grands in my family!

My grandparents were Grandma/Papa and [name_f]Nana[/name_f]/Grandpa.
I don’t have kids, but my husband and I are going to start TTC next [name_u]December[/name_u] and my mom wants to be called [name_f]Mimi[/name_f] or Mimsy, she has not decided which. I personally, think they both sound silly.
My great grandmother on my mom’s side I just called Grandma, and my grandma on my father’s side I called Grandma Great.

I called my maternal grandparents Grammie and Grampie and my paternal grandmother Grandma. My paternal great-grandma was [name_f]Nana[/name_f].

I call both my grandmothers Omma. [name_f]One[/name_f] of my grandfather’s died before I was born - the other one died for three years ago. I called him [name_f]Abbi[/name_f], and would also have called the other one [name_f]Abbi[/name_f], if he had lived. And in my great-grandparents - the only one I knew where two great-grandmother’s, who both died when I was ten years old. I called them ‘Langomma’, both of them. But I would have called a great-grandfather ‘Langabbi’.

I call my parents mamma and babba. x)

I called my maternal grandfather Grumpy. His wife would have been Grandmother. And I call my paternal grandparents Grandmama/Mamama and [name_f]Poppy[/name_f]

My mom’s parents I call(ed) Grammy and Pappy. I believe my mom called her grandparents Grammy and Pop-pop. My dad’s parents died before I was born.

I don’t have children, but my mom wants to be called [name_f]Mimi[/name_f] or Mimsy possibly. Her name is [name_u]Lynn[/name_u] so I always joked ‘Gremlin’ would be her grandma name, short for Grandma [name_u]Lynn[/name_u]. :slight_smile: My dad won’t get much of a choice, he will probably be Grandpa [name_m]Bill[/name_m] since he lives so far away. My step-mom would probably be called by her name. I don’t plan on my kids spending much time with either of them.

My step-grandparents were Memmie and Pap-pap (he was my step-mom’s step-dad, so he was my step-step-grandfather if you can make any sense of that). I never met my great-grandparents.

I called my grandparents [name_f]Mimi[/name_f] and Pop. I called my other grandma “Grandma [name_f]Eileen[/name_f]”, but she died before I could speak, so only in reference. I imagine her husband (Dad’s dad) would have been Grandpa or Grandpa [name_u]Charlie[/name_u].
I called my great grandma “Grandma Great”.

For now, we call of [name_f]Lillian[/name_f]'s grandparents “Grandma” or “Grandpa” and sometimes add their first names. We call her step-grandparents by their first names (they started it, actually, but introducing themselves to her). My mom had said she wanted to be called “[name_f]Kiki[/name_f]”, but that hasn’t happened yet.

[name_f]Nanna[/name_f] and Pa

Granny and [name_u]Roy[/name_u]

No idea why I called my grandfather by his first name!

My mum’s parents had their kids in their thirties so there were no living great grand parents by the time I was born. On my dad’s side my nanna’s parents died very young in a car crash and my pop’s parents died relatively young too. So none on that side either!

My dad’s parents were Pop and [name_f]Nanna[/name_f] :slight_smile: I only met Pop when I was a baby though as he died six months after I was born so I never actually got to call him that properly.

My mum’s parents are Grandma and Granddad. Grandma used to refer to herself as Grandmama on occasion, lol. And my autistic cousin calls her Ma-Ma. They’re both still going strong though at ninety two and eighty seven I doubt they’ll see me have kids :frowning:

I called my dad’s parents Grandma and Grampy [name_m]Rubin[/name_m], while my mom’s parents are [name_f]Nana[/name_f] and Grampy.
The only great grandparent I knew was my Great Grammy.

My little niece calls my dad Papa which is the most adorable thing in the world the way she says it. But that started long before she was born because I called him Papa [name_m]Rubin[/name_m] one time to my friends and it just completely stuck. [name_m]Even[/name_m] teachers and my coaches all knew him as Papa [name_m]Rubin[/name_m]. In fact, more people in town know him as Papa [name_m]Rubin[/name_m] than they do as [name_m]Jeffrey[/name_m] or [name_m]Jeff[/name_m]. He’s a very big, nice man most of the time. Think like [name_f]Santa[/name_f] Clause kinda jolly, so papa just fits perfectly :slight_smile:

My maternal grandparents I called [name_f]Mimi[/name_f] and Grandpa. My paternal grandparents were English and I called them Granny and Grandad.
I’m currently 4 months pregnant with my first and I’m still deciding what my parents will be called. I’m thinking something to honor the British line.
My hubby’s family is [name_m]German[/name_m], he called his grandparents [name_f]Oma[/name_f] and Pops.
My cousin’s daughter calls her grandparents mimi and grampy and nana and papa.
I called my Great grandmothers [name_f]GiGi[/name_f] and Grammy [name_m]Rocky[/name_m].

paternal grandparents: Grandma and Bompa Surname (He’s Italian…my only set of grandparents who only married each other)

We call my mom’s mom and her step-dad, and her dad and step-mom, Grandma and Grandpa Surname as well. I called my step-dad’s mom Grandma Surname, and never met his dad. Not really original lol…

My niece calls my dad Grandpa, my mom Mamaw, my stepdad Papaw, (all the grandkids likely will unless they each come up with something on their own), her step-grandparents Grandma and Grandpa.

My dads mom is Grandma. Unfortunately my dads dad dies before I was born and moms parents died when I was very young. My boys call their grandparents Grandma/PawPaw (my folks) and Grandma/Grandfather (hubbys folks). When they need to differentiate between the grandmas they just add their first names. They call my grandma Great Grandma __________. The blank is a nickname they gave her. I wondered about how they would label all their grandparents and left it very much up to the kids what they called people.

Maternal grandfather: Since my mum practically hasn’t ever had any contact with her dad, I usually refer to him as just Søren and occasionally ‘Morfar Søren’ which is the Danish word for grandfather (morfar: mother’s father/motherfather; mormor: mother’s mother/mothermother; farfar: father’s father/fatherfather; and farmor: father’s mother/fathermother). My mum calls him Daddy (even when speaking Danish), so to us kids, she has always referred to him as Granddad.

Maternal grandmother: She’s [name_m]French[/name_m] so I’ve always called her mémé which is a pet form of grand-mère. Occasionally I also call her “mormor” or granny. I called her mémère when I was younger but that sounds silly now.

Paternal grandfather: My father has always been Papa, so it seems logical that my grandfather became Papi. He died before I was born though.

Paternal grandmother: Another grandparent I don’t have contact to, I usually refer to her as “farmor”.

Paternal are [name_m]German[/name_m], so always [name_f]Oma[/name_f] & Opa.
Paternal great-grandfather was Opa [name_m]Peter[/name_m]. (His first name, I guess to distinguish him from regular Opa.) The grandmother had died long before I was born.
Maternal were [name_f]Nana[/name_f] and Poppa, even though they were VERY [name_m]German[/name_m], too. I didn’t know them as a young child, and those were given by another cousin. Usually, when referring to them amongst immediate family, we’ll say “[name_f]Nana[/name_f]” but use the grandfather’s first name. Not a close or very positive relationship, but an interesting character.

Not sure what our kid will do. I like the idea of continuing the [name_m]German[/name_m] tradition with [name_f]Oma[/name_f] & Opa for my parents, but [name_f]Oma[/name_f] is still alive and those names are SO very attached to those 2 people in my mind that it may be weird referring to my parents that way. Ours will be the first grandkid, so we might set the trend. Maybe my siblings should weigh in on it. My parents haven’t expressed an opinion yet.

DH’s parents are already Grandma or Grandma Firstname and Granddad or Granddad Firstname by the niece & nephew, so that will probably continue. I love using Granddad instead of Grandpa; I had never really heard that before.

ETA: DH’s grandma is still alive, too, so she is called Grandma Firstname or Grandma Nickname by the greatgrandkids.