It seems like more and more grandparents are known by names other than “grandma” and “grandpa.” Like one of my friends’ kids use “Noni” and “Papa.” [name_f]My[/name_f] theory is that it’s because the new generation of grandparents think that these names make them sound old. Also with people living longer, it’s likely that when people have kids their grandparents (or maybe even great-grandparents) are still living and around in the baby’s life, so the title of “grandma” or “grandpa” is already “taken.” Or maybe it’s not a new thing. I have a Grandad, Grandpa, Gramma, Granny, and we called my great-grandmother [name_m]Gram[/name_m].
Anyway, what do [or will] your kids call their grandparents? And how was this decided? Did the grandparents say, “I want the grandkids to call me ______”?
Well for me I have no say in the matter. [name_f]My[/name_f] brother is going to have kids first, so whatever they/the kids/my parents choose is what my kids are going to have to use as well.
[name_f]My[/name_f] cousin’s childen call my aunt [name_f]Nana[/name_f], which my aunt picked.
Mum wants to be [name_f]Nana[/name_f] or [name_f]Nanny[/name_f], like her mum, so she can be [name_f]Nanny[/name_f] [name_f]Annie[/name_f] :). Dad wants to be Grandpa- I call his dad Grandpa, even though the rest of the family calls him Papa, which Grandpa loathes. Dad joked that he would like to be known as Your Mother’s Grand, Majestic and Utterly Fabulous Father, or Y.M.G.M.U.F.F / Yemegmuff for short, and I am not entirely sure he was joking :). I have a feeling Yemegmuff may stick.
I had Grandma, Grandpa, and [name_f]Nana[/name_f] growing up. I was closest to [name_f]Nana[/name_f], so I feel like I can’t reuse the name… there can only be one [name_f]Nana[/name_f] in my life, haha.
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s parents already have grandkids, so for ease we will probably keep the same names for them that my niece and nephew use: Gramms and Gramps. For my parents, who are the Italian side of the family, we will likely go with [name_f]Nonna[/name_f] and Nonno. Slightly unusual here, but I think it’s cute, and easy for a kid to say. We are also lucky to still have some of our grandparents living, so our kids will likely also have [name_f]GiGi[/name_f]-ma, Great-Grandma, and my 91-year-old grandfather who told me once he wants to go by SuperGrandpa
I’ve always found grandparent names interesting - there seems to be some regional aspect to them. I grew up in [name_u]California[/name_u], but moved to [name_u]Texas[/name_u] for high school, and so many people there had Memaws and Pepaws, which I had never heard of before.
On my husband’s side, his dad will be called “Opa”–there are already grandkids on his side so they picked first, and the family has a strong Dutch background, so it was the natural choice! They won’t have a biological grandma on that side, and “Opa’s” partner is relatively new to the family so the grandkids just use her name rather than a title. No great-grandparents on that side either, so no issues there.
On my side, it’ll likely just be grandma and grandpa, though my side has a tradition of children mispronouncing titles/names and then the new titles/names stick. For instance, my great-grandpa was always “Bompa” because one of my dad’s siblings mispronounced “Grandpa” when he was a kid. So, if that happens I think we’d roll with it! As for other great-grandparents, we would likely distinguish by saying “Grandma Last Name,” which is what we did when I was a kid. (Though again, my great-grandma became Grandma Toast through a mispronunciation!)
[name_m]Both[/name_m] grandmas wanted to be Grammie, but my daughter couldn’t say it and called them [name_f]Mimi[/name_f] instead. So she bras a [name_f]Mimi[/name_f] [name_f]Debbie[/name_f] and a [name_f]Mimi[/name_f] [name_u]Sandy[/name_u]. [name_f]My[/name_f] father is called Pappy and my FIL is called Grandpa. [name_f]My[/name_f] grandmother is called Grammie [name_u]Saylor[/name_u] and my husband’s grandparents are Maw Maw, [name_f]Poppy[/name_f], Pop Pop, and [name_f]Nan[/name_f]. We have a wide array of grandparent names!
[name_f]My[/name_f] son calls them:
Grandma [name_f]Valerie[/name_f] - my husband’s mother
Grandma [name_f]Peggy[/name_f] - my mother
Grandpa [name_m]Durham[/name_m] - my dad
[name_f]Nana[/name_f] - my grandmother
Grammy and Papa - my husband’s grandparents
On my side [name_f]Oma[/name_f] not a fan of grandmother and my mum loves the german language . On his well we will just have to wait and see nanas out of the question though nana will always be my grandmothers name nana even introduces herself as that she hates her real name cause it’s really common for her gen . All in all though when I finally have kids I really don’t want 2 be called mother mom mommy I guess mums ok , and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to saying father or dad daddy in English so maybe me and future partner can use something in another language (up until 6 years ago my mum was a single mum ,6 years and the word dad still feels funny when I say it:confused:) anyways I guess when I have kids they’ll be leaning multiple languages
[name_m]Both[/name_m] sets of mine where always called by their last name: [name_f]Nanna[/name_f] [name_m]Smith[/name_m] and [name_f]Poppy[/name_f] [name_m]Jones[/name_m] for example. That way they weren’t confused all the time and knew who we were referring to (since they lived across the road from one another - which is still nightmarish at times!) I also went the a habit (and occasional still do) call my [name_m]German[/name_m] grandmother “Grandmama” like in the [name_f]Anastasia[/name_f] film, because [name_f]Empress[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] always reminded me of her.
I’ve heard a lot of Southern folk call Grandma, “[name_f]Honey[/name_f],” which wouldn’t seem down under like a term of endearment; but rather being patronizing.
When I have children, they will probably use the same formula, or Opa and [name_f]Oma[/name_f] (since we have a strong [name_m]German[/name_m] heritage.) Though I suspect my parents will insist on Australianisms. But the inlaws are obviously a mystery till I meet them. I call my Mum and Dad, “Mum and Dad” or “Papa and Mami/Mama,” like they do in Germany. It’s kind of become interchangeable in our house. I will probably insist on being called Mama, just because I prefer it.
I don’t have much say in the matter as my husband and I are the babies of each of our family’s and all of our siblings and cousins have already had children so we have to use what they use. Also, also all of my grandparents are still alive and so are all of my husband’s apart from his grandmother on his mother’s side.
[name_f]My[/name_f] mum: [name_f]Nan[/name_f]/[name_f]Nanny[/name_f]
[name_f]My[/name_f] dad: even though he’s no longer with us all the kids still refer to him as Grandpapi [name_m]Seamus[/name_m].
[name_f]My[/name_f] grandmother on my maternal side: [name_f]Nan[/name_f]/[name_f]Nanny[/name_f]
[name_f]My[/name_f] grandfather on my maternal side: Grandad
[name_f]My[/name_f] grandmother on my paternal side: Granny - although when I was little I mispronounced it as Grammy a lot and I often still call her that, I might do that with my kids.
[name_f]My[/name_f] grandfather on my paternal side: Grandpapi (don’t know why we have a slightly Italian sounding name, as this grandfather is Irish…)
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s mum: [name_f]Nana[/name_f]
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s dad: Nono [name_u]Tony[/name_u] (my husband’s family is Italian on his dad’s side) - when they are with him they just call him Nono but when talking about him away from him they call him this to differentiate between [name_u]Tony[/name_u] and his father.
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s grandmother on his maternal side: even though she is no longer with us the kids call her Granny.
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s grandfather on his maternal side: Grandfather - although many of the kids say sir when talking to him, it’s a mark of respect and my kids will be following that tradition too.
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s grandmother on his paternal side:[name_f]Nona[/name_f]
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s grandfather on paternal side: Nono [name_m]Francesco[/name_m] - again to differentiate.
Haha, my grandparents on my mums side are weird. [name_f]My[/name_f] grandma goes by Mooma, my Granddad by Grizzly (which I now affectionately shorten to Griz or Giz). This is because when my grandma found out about my mum being pregnant, she said that she was too young to be a grandma, thought for a moment and said “Mooma!” (to which my mum replied “like an old cow?”). I don’t know why Griz get’s called that.
[name_f]My[/name_f] grandparents on my dad’s side, however, get called Grannyma and Granddad. [name_m]Just[/name_m] because.
[name_f]My[/name_f] great grandma (granddad’s father) was known as [name_f]Oma[/name_f] and great grandfather known as Opa by the entire family (we’re Dutch)
[name_f]My[/name_f] dad wants to be an Opa to my kids, but Mum has no idea.
I’m not sure what I want to be to my grandkids. Maybe carry on the Mooma thing. Maybe, I’ve got a LOT of time to think about it.
We call my mom’s parents [name_f]Nana[/name_f] and B’pa. The story is, when my younger sister was younger she couldn’t say “[name_f]Nana[/name_f] and Grandpa” so she called them [name_f]Nina[/name_f] and B’pa. [name_f]Nina[/name_f] was eventually changed back to [name_f]Nana[/name_f] but B’pa still stays. I think he likes it because his father was called G’pa by my mom and aunt.
We call my dad’s parents Babci and Gramps. Babci has a very strong Polish background so she used the Polish word for “grandma”.
**Fun fact: [name_m]Both[/name_m] my sets grandparents are named [name_m]Jim[/name_m] and [name_f]Carol[/name_f].
I have no idea what my kids will call my parents. I will be the first to have kids but they have a good 10+ years to figure this out, lol.
We’ve never discussed it, but I assume my parents will be Granny and Grandpa, because that’s what we all called my mother’s parents. We called my dad’s father Grandad to differentiate, and his mother died before we were old enough to call her anything. Differentiating will be easy for us because my parents-in-law will be [name_f]Amma[/name_f] (grandmother) and Afi (grandfather).
I’m actually more unsure of what my boyfriend and I will be called. It sounds so weird to mix the languages and say Mummy and Pabbi, I know I will instinctively want to refer to him as Daddy or to myself as Mamma! suppose we could be Mum[my] and Dad[dy] in English, and Mamma and Pabbi in Icelandic, but that might be confusing because as far as little kids are concerned, those are your names.
[name_f]My[/name_f] partner’s parents already have grandchildren, from his mothers first marriage. They call them Grandma and Grandpa. I’d like for our future child/ren to call his father Abuelo or Tato. I know that his mother will call herself Grandma, because she’s used to it with her current grandchildren, but they aren’t biologically related to my partner’s father, and thus won’t have the genetic connection to his ethnic background. Whereas our future children will be ethnically and genetically connected to him, so I would prefer them call him Abuelo or Tato. I guarantee when he grew up and lived in Mexico he didn’t think about someday being called “Grandpa.”
As for my parents, well my mother died last [name_u]December[/name_u], so our future children will never know her. I don’t know what I will call her when I tell them about her, because I haven’t really thought much about that. It sucks to think about. As for my father, I’m essentially estranged from him and we aren’t sure if we want our future children to have a relationship with him. I haven’t thought much about that either because it sucks too.
[name_f]My[/name_f] mom and dad are [name_f]Abbi[/name_f] and Papa. They wanted to be Abuela and Papa, [name_f]Abbi[/name_f] was as close as my nephew could come. [name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s parents are [name_f]Lovey[/name_f] and [name_m]Buddy[/name_m] and Grandma and Grandpa. They wanted [name_m]Lev[/name_m] to come up with a cute way of saying that, but he has always just said Grandma and Grandpa. He was just one of those kids who didn’t talk until he could talk properly. Our son has five sets of great grandparents living as well. These are all just GreatGrandpa and GreatGrandma, which does get confusing.
I think that the reason for all of the grandparent nicknames is b.c there are so many grandparents now. For instance, my brother in law married a woman who was divorced and had two children. [name_m]Both[/name_m] she and my brother in law come from divorced families, and her ex husband also came from a divorced family. This means that each of them has four parents apiece, which means in turn that the kids now have TWELVE grandparents. They all live locally and are very involved with the kids, so you can imagine how confusing it would be if they were all called Grandma and Grandpa.
I don’t have kids yet, so I’ll say what I call my grandparents. I only have one set as my Dad’s parents died when he was a teenager.
When I was younger, i called my grandma Mamaw because that was what my Mum used for her grandma. However, Mamaw now has advanced Alzheimer’s and doesn’t know who I am. It feels weird to call her Mamaw so I mostly call her by her name, Margaret, as that is the only thing she responds to.
Grandad has always been Grandad because, again, that’s what Mum used.
If/when I have kids, I guess I would let the kids choose or if the grandparents wanted to be called something specific I would use that. I don’t think it really matters what they’re called as long as everyone is happy!
PS: I don’t have any great-grandparents. My grandparents are both in their eighties so their parents would be over 100 if they were alive! My Dad is as old as most people’s grandparents (73) - people often thought he was my grandad, especially when I was younger!
I call my grandparents Grandma, Grandpa, Pop, and [name_f]Nan[/name_f]. [name_f]My[/name_f] great-grandmother is [name_m]Gee[/name_m] [name_m]Gee[/name_m], and my great-grandfather was Paw Paw.
Two other great-grandparents were alive when I was little. I think I went along with what my parents said and called them Granddaddy and [name_f]Nanna[/name_f], but I don’t remember.
I grew up with Grandma and Grandpa (Last Name) on one side and Grandma (First Name) on the other. Among my siblings we only have one child so far and our parents have also become Grandma and Grandpa. [name_f]My[/name_f] cousin’s children call our Grandma “[name_f]Gigi[/name_f]” (or G.G.? Short for great-grandmother), which I think is so cute, and obviously easier for little ones to pronounce. Incidentally, as a child I also had a [name_f]Nonie[/name_f]- that was the name I gave my blankie!
