Names for grandparents? « Back to Group Discussions

[MrsKatie]

Hi ladies!
 

I'm wondering if you guys have any creative or slightly out-of-the-ordinary (but not too contrived) names for your kids to call your parents.  My dad wants to be called Gramps (which is super cute), but my mom and my MIL are having a hard time with the whole "Grandma" thing.  I feel kind of lost when it comes to coming up with alternative names.  I called my mom's mom "Nonnie," but I don't think my mom wants the same name.

Any ideas?

[Jaimee]

Is this their first grandchild?  If it is, that may be why they're having a hard time with "grandma."  But if your child actually calls her that when s/he can talk, I hardly think she'll have a problem. 

Honestly, I think the easiest solution is to let your kid come up with it on their own.  We let our kids come up with their own names.  My first calls my mother grey grandma (her hair is grey) and she calls my MIL black namma (her hair is black).  We all had a good laugh about that one.  But essentially it's grandma and grandpa for mine and namma and dampa for the IL's.  My second can't say any of these things well enough yet so sometimes it comes out grammy.  Mostly he just signs grandma and grandpa.

[birdhappy85]

Growing up, my siblings and I always referred to our grandparents by "Grandma ---" or "Grandpa ---" followed by their last name to distinguish between who we were talking about. We just called them Grandma and Grandpa when we were around them in person. I always liked that. DH and I are probably going to guide our kids in the same way, especially since he has two sets of parents, so our kids will have three sets of grandparents to refer to! DH's mom and stepmom both have the same first name too (how crazy is that?) so using first names in any way will probably confuse our kids, lol. DH calls his paternal grandmother "Obachan" since she's Japanese. Maybe his dad would like our kids to call him the Japanese word for grandfather. We haven't really had that conversation yet! We'll see. Do you have any ethnic background you could find a name using?

With all of that said, my nephew refers to my mom as "Nana." Maybe your mom would be okay with that one? Jaimee has a good idea with letting kids decide on their own, too.

[Viriditas]

My mom and step-dad are Grandma and Grandpa. My dad is Grandpa Bryan, but I doubt DS even remembers him (we hardly ever see him -- his choice).

My DH's mom and step-dad are Gram and Gramps, and my DH's dad and step-mom are Pappy and Nanny. FIL REALLY wanted to be Pappy. I think it might be a Popeye thing?  He is really into classic cartoons...

 

[TalkToMeNow]

My dd's have a Nana and Papa on my side and a Grandma on their Dad's. Dsd has a Nana and Papa (mine), a Grandma Lisa, and a Grandmama and Grandpa. So this little guy will have a Nana and Papa, and "those crazy people we don't see." Oh, I'm sorry... did that slip out? I meant to say a Grandmama and Grandpa. 

[Abraisme]

I call my grandparents, Nanny and Garby..

My parents are simply Grandma and Grandpa.

My IL's are Papa Doc and Nana.

[Mal85]

In my experience, I've never really seen grandparents "choose" their names ahead of time. It usually just ends up whatever the grandkids end up calling them. My mom has always been "Grandma" with her grandkids and my dad is "Paw-paw". Owyn can't say Grandma very well, so she calls both of her grandmas "Bam-maw" right now. It's kind of cute. She also calls DH's dad "Paw-paw". 

My aunt's oldest granddaughter couldn't say "Grandma" and named her "Mo-mo". All her grandkids since then have followed suit and they all call her "Mo-mo". 

[TalkToMeNow]

Originally Posted by Mal85 

In my experience, I've never really seen grandparents "choose" their names ahead of time. It usually just ends up whatever the grandkids end up calling them. My mom has always been "Grandma" with her grandkids and my dad is "Paw-paw". Owyn can't say Grandma very well, so she calls both of her grandmas "Bam-maw" right now. It's kind of cute. She also calls DH's dad "Paw-paw". 

My aunt's oldest granddaughter couldn't say "Grandma" and named her "Mo-mo". All her grandkids since then have followed suit and they all call her "Mo-mo". 

My mom picked what she and my dad would be called (Nana and Papa) when I was pregnant with dd1. I though it was a bit odd at the time, but it seemed really important to her, so I went with it. I had never heard of anyone picking names like that, either. 

[MrsKatie]

Yes, this is the first grandchild for everyone.

I chose the name for "Nonnie" at least -- it was my approximation of the name "Granny" -- I like my version much better!

For whatever reason, both sets of parents have been discussing this a lot, even though I think you all are right in that this baby will choose names when (s)he is old enough.  I guess it's just my parents' and in-laws' ways of being involved.  They are so excited, and they want to be able to make their roles more "real," I guess.  I'm just speculating.  Maybe they're having fun with it more than anything -- at the end of the day, nobody's too hung up on what they want to be called, and would respond to GrandPoopy if that's what this baby wanted to call them.

[jbk21]

My mom and stepdad are Nana and Pawpaw.  They chose that before I had my son- there were other grandkids.  On my DH's side they seem to try to "claim" a cutesy name- it's changed over the last 2.5 years.  Nothing sticks with DS- he just calls them Gradma and Grandpa ____ last name____ because that's what we call them.  They've tried for bobcha (sp?  polish grandma) and gramma and things like that.... My dad was Grandpa Tim.  Well, he still is (my DS doesn't understand that he passed away this year.)

[Sasha's Mama]

I started calling my mom Nana, but she kept saying it sounded like her baby word for banana, so I jokingly started calling her Grammy Grams and now my 4 year old calls her that most of the time :) Otherwise it's Grandma (first name) or Grandpa (first name) for my parents & their spouses, and Babushka and Dedushka for my husband's parents.

[meesh933]

My mom and MIL talked about what they wanted to be called before hand. My MIL wanted Nana, and that's what she is. My mom went back and forth, and my DD ended up calling her Nonna. Both grandfathers are Papa (First Name). Just Papa when we're around only one.

(My FIL is actually DH's stepddad. We've been married longer than they have. DD must've picked up on the difference, because around 2.5 yo she started calling him "Papa (First name)" and my dad "My Real Papa." Yikes! Thankfully, she never said it to his face.)

[Abraisme]

My MIL decided to be called Nana BECAUSE my DD called a banana, nana.  She decided it was good enough for her, since she could already say that word! 
 

Originally Posted by Sasha's Mama 

I started calling my mom Nana, but she kept saying it sounded like her baby word for banana, so I jokingly started calling her Grammy Grams and now my 4 year old calls her that most of the time :) Otherwise it's Grandma (first name) or Grandpa (first name) for my parents & their spouses, and Babushka and Dedushka for my husband's parents.

[Abraisme]

I think the Polish word for Grandma is Babcia.  My Great-Grandmother went by that, only everyone pronounced it Bub-kah.  I'm not sure what the proper pronunciation is though?
 

Originally Posted by jbk21 

My mom and stepdad are Nana and Pawpaw.  They chose that before I had my son- there were other grandkids.  On my DH's side they seem to try to "claim" a cutesy name- it's changed over the last 2.5 years.  Nothing sticks with DS- he just calls them Gradma and Grandpa ____ last name____ because that's what we call them.  They've tried for bobcha (sp?  polish grandma) and gramma and things like that.... My dad was Grandpa Tim.  Well, he still is (my DS doesn't understand that he passed away this year.)

[jbk21]

Ugh this is totally messing up my formatting.  Maybe it will work this time.  Babcia- you're right.  I found a pronunciation key that says [BAHP-chah}.  Interesting!  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abraisme 

I think the Polish word for Grandma is Babcia.  My Great-Grandmother went by that, only everyone pronounced it Bub-kah.  I'm not sure what the proper pronunciation is though? 

[berry987]

My mom was uncomfortable with "Grandma" when my sister was pregnant with her first (who was to become my mom's first grandchild). But let me tell you, when that little adorable baby was born my mom dove straight into the Grandma thing wholeheartedly and now gets enormous pride from being called "Grandma" (she now has 13, almost 14 grandchildren). I think some women in that generation struggle a bit with the name because it sounds old, like someone who knits and bakes cookies, but once the grandchild is born I think biology kicks in and those worries go out the window. So, my point is, I have a feeling your mom won't care what she is called once the baby is here - so maybe just hold off until the baby is born and let it form more naturally. 

And for other ideas - I have 3 MILs (well, one true MIL and two step-MILs) and they are called "Grammy," "Nana," and the other by her first nickname - as in "Susie" (since she and my FIL just recently got married). 

[KaliShanti]

My mom is Summi (her name is Summer) and my dad is Poppi.

[KayPea]

Not that this is something anyone else would likely want to adopt, but my mom is Mummu - the Finnish word for Grandma.  My step dad is Papa, and my dad, who my DD has met once and doesn't really know, is also Papa, but pronounced the Finnish way, which is Bap-pa. 

The inlaws are just Grandma and Grandpa, and boy were they excited to be. When DD was smaller, she called them "Bampa and Bampa" but at 2.5 she takes great pride in correct pronunciation, and can say Grandpa and Grandma perfectly now. DHs one set of Great Grandparents (darling darling folk approaching their nineties) were also super excited to have their own special names to be called by these great-grandbabies, so they are GiGi and GeeBee. 

DHs family has had a lot of cute grandparent names going far back - Grampy, Nana, Nona, Grams, Grumpy.