What to call the grandparents?
Categories: Relatives
With all the questions that arise out of bringing home the first child, there's often one that is at the last of the parent's list, but at the forefront of the grandparents: What to call the grandparents?In my family, we have a variety of names. My Mom and her husband are "Nana and PawPaw." My Dad and his wife are "Granny and PawPaw." My husband's parents are "Gramma and Grandpa."
I was never thrilled with the name "Nana," though my Mom insisted on the name. Shortly after my daughter was born, she started referring to herself as "Nana." The name stuck; now my daughter loves to visit "NANA!"
I remember calling my own grandparents "MawMaw and PawPaw" when I was a little girl. I know of some people that have used "GeeGaw" and "PeePaw." "PopPop" is also a favorite here in the South.
In case your family is stuck on names, here's an article that has a variety of names and some of the meaning behind them.
Of course, things get a bit sticker with grandparents and remarriages. For my family, it wasn't that much of a problem since both of my parents remarried when I was a preteen.
What names do you use for grandparents? Is there a meaning behind them?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Adrienne Backus 8-17-2006 @ 12:52PM
Years ago, before I even thought of having children, I got into a discussion with my parents about what they wanted to be called as grandparents. My mother said she wanted "Grandma." My father, when pressed, said jokingly, "'Sir' would be fine."
So you guessed it, he's 'Sir' and my daughter loves him to death.
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Marcia 8-17-2006 @ 1:07PM
I'm starting to think about this now being due next month. I know I will refer to my mom as Grandma, but I have no idea what my dad wants to be called. My better half's parents are divorced and both have other partners. His mom and her husband live in Puerto Rico so most likely they will be Abuela and Abuelo and his dad will most likely be Pap Pap seeing how that's what he refers to himself as to his other tiny grandchildren. His girlfriend doesn't want to be considered a grandma at all and basically doesn't want the grandkids to even think of her as a grandmother figure so she'll just be called by her first name.
Growing up, I just referred to my grandmothers and grandfathers by saying Grandma (last name) and Pap (last name). Most of my younger cousins refer to my maternal grandmother as Mam-Mam. My great grandma was my Granny.
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Kerri 8-17-2006 @ 1:50PM
My mom, being from an Italian heritage, decided that she wanted to be called "Nonni". My dad is Grandpa. And hubby's mom is Grandma.
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roolalenska 8-17-2006 @ 2:18PM
My husband's parents are from Norway. My daughter calls my Mother-in-Law Beste which is short for Beste Mor (Grandma). My Father-in-Law is Far-Far (Father's Father). We used to call her Far-Mor but since my Sister-in-Law's kids call her Mor-Mor (Mother's Mother) because I didn't want it to be too confusing for my daughter. My Mother is Lola (Grandma in Tagalog) and my Father is Grandpa. Initially I think my Dad was a little hurt because his name wasn't special but he's the only Grandpa! Growing up in a multi-cultural home we only called our Grandparents - Grandma and Grandpa and it was confusing sometimes. I think that this is a nice way to honor our family heritage and everyone knows which Grandparent you're talking about.
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Jenn 8-17-2006 @ 2:40PM
So far we are referring to my parents as Grandma & Grandpa, but my daughter is only 6 months old. I'd like to come up with something more creative, but I don't know what. I guess I will have to see what Maddie comes up with!
Her great-grandmother is Bubbe (Yiddish for grandmother), so I don't think my mother will get that. And my husband's parents aren't Jewish and we almost never see or speak to them, so who knows?
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adymommy 8-17-2006 @ 2:51PM
I have a grandmother who we call "Mono" because that is what it sounded like one of my older cousins was saying when she said "grandma" and it stuck.
My kids call my mom "Num Num" and my dad is "Papa Chocolate" both of these names were given to them when my niece(10) was just a toddler. My mother loves being Num Num, becuase my daughter has alot of grandmas, so "Num Num" makes her more than a grandma.
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ann adams 8-17-2006 @ 3:08PM
With the girls, my daughter (who lives with us) is Grandma Carol, I'm Grandma Ann, and their mother's mom is Grandma Nancy.
My mother (who is their great-great granny is Grandma with her last name.
With two grannies in the same house, it works nicely.
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Cecelia 8-17-2006 @ 3:27PM
I let my parents / husband's parents pick their own greeting. Our son is 2 years old. While my mother wishes to be called the more formal "Grandmother", my mother-in-law prefers "Granny". For the myriad of other seniors in our lives (we have a large extended church family), they go by "Granny Mattie" or "Granny Nobie" and its been working just fine!
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Amy 8-17-2006 @ 3:39PM
My mother announced years ago she wanted to be a hip grandmother - no "granny" for her. She decided she wanted to be called Gran and trained my niece and nephew well and is now working on my daughter. We have actually had more of a dilemma deciding how to refer to my father and my husband's mother, who are both dead. We want our daughter to have names for them - they are her grandparents - but we're not quite sure how to go about this. We have several pictures of them up in our hosue. I've been referring to my father as Grandaddy and my husband's mother as Gramma or Gramma Pat. I hope she would approve!
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Jill 8-17-2006 @ 3:47PM
My parents chose names, then the grandchildren chose again for them. If you let them, kids will come up with a name that suits and is personal. My father was going to just be a simple Grandpa. My three year old neice (1st grandchild) corrected his pronunciation and told him he was wrong, he was "GrandPOM". That stuck until her brother turned it into "PomPom". My first son heard "PomPom" at a group visit, but must have heard Papa in books, because he soon morphed it into "Papa". So, one set of grandkids says PomPom, one set says Papa, and no one knows him as Grandpa. I like it that way.
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Amy F. 8-17-2006 @ 4:27PM
Before my son was born, I did talk with my mom and stepdad about what they'd want to be called. My mom knew from the start she wanted to be referred to as "Nonna." Her dad was from Italy and "Nonna" was what she called her grandmother. As far as my stepdad, we joked about calling him "Grumpy," as he can be grumpy on occasion, but is very sweet on my son. Well, "Grumpy" just stuck. Alex (my son) just adores Nonna and Grumpy.
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Monkeynpeanutsmom 8-17-2006 @ 5:07PM
Growing up I had a Nana and Poppa (my dad's mom and step dad), a Grandpa and Nanny (dad's dad and step mom), and a Mamaw and Papaul (mom's mom and dad). I also was lucky enough to have several great grandparents alive who all had been named by my parents and their siblings/cousins. My sons now have a Mimi and Pappy (my parents) and a Cricket and Poppa (hubby's parents). All of my grandparents are still alive so the kids just use my names for them.
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thordora 8-17-2006 @ 5:43PM
The girls GreatGrandma is their Oma, my father is "Poppi" by request (who knew!), and their paternal grandparents are "Granny" and "Bucko"
To this day, we have NO idea where "Bucko" came from, but it cracks us up, especially since there is a lottery called that as well...
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suburban misfit 8-17-2006 @ 8:31PM
My parents already had loads of grandchildren before mine came along (my brothers and sister are much older than me) and they were Nana and Papa to them. Mine just followed suit!
My husband's mother prefers to be called "Grandma Alex" and I don't care for it. It seems so formal, especially because she's the only "grandma" they have, so why the first name attached to it?
My husband and I have already decided what we want our grandkids (should we be lucky enough to have any) to call us: CeCe and Pop. My first name starts with a "C", so I like CeCe and my husband just likes Pop for some reason!
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Donna Narron 8-25-2006 @ 12:02AM
When my Daughter started talking she called my husbands mom me ma even though the rest of the grand kids called her grandma. Now that my own grand son is talking I would have been happy with grndma but he calls me, me ma, what a coincidence.
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