# what do your kids call their grandparents - and why?



## napless (Mar 20, 2003)

Growing up, I called both sets of my granparents "Grandma" and ""Grandpa". I wanted my children to have different names for the two sets of grandparents.

When ds was born, my in-laws already had a grandchild who called them "Grandma" and "Grandpa", so they got those names. I asked my parents to pick their own names. They chose "Grammy" and "Grampop".

I wondered if those names would be too similar and confusing for the kids, but that hasn't been an issue. Even the 2 year old knows who is "Grammy" and who is "Grandma" etc.

I know lots of you have much more interesting grandparent names! I'd love to hear your stories!


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## Houdini (Jul 14, 2004)

My mom and dad are Grandma and Grandpa. My MIL is Mimi. My MIL wanted the grandkids to call her Grammy, but the oldest started with Mimi and it went from there.


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## BlueStateMama (Apr 12, 2004)

Oma and Opa for my parents (German) and Grandpa for DH's dad.


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## sleet76 (Jun 2, 2004)

MIL and FIL are Grandma and Grandpa. My parents are Nana and Poppy. I wanted them to not have all the same "name", and my mom wanted a name more "special" than just plain old Grandma. My dad went along with it. They picked their own names, but DD is so far the only grandchild on that side of our family, and isn't speaking much yet--we'll see if the names can stick.


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## Calidris (Apr 17, 2004)

well dd doesn't speak yet, so we haven't really come up with name so far (and she only has 1 set of gp living), but as childen, we lived far from both sets of grandparents and ended up calling them what our parents did, our German grandmother was Mutti (German for Mummy), while our Trinidadian grandparents were Mammy and Pappy (all the grandkids called them that tho). DP's mother died a few years ago, but she was Ma to all her children and grandkids (and most of their friends







).


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## fiddledebi (Nov 20, 2003)

So far, I think my DD's grandparents have the oddest names I've heard!

My mom and dad are Savta (my mom) and Zaydeh (my dad). Zaydeh is Yiddish for grandfather, which my dad really liked and had warm connotations for him. Savta is Hebrew for "grandmother," and my mom wanted to be called by a Jewish name but didn't like identifying with the Yiddish word for grandmother ("Bubbe"), since that was what we called her mother, with whom she was not close. DD says both words pretty clearly, though she has taken to calling my mom "my little Savta" because my mom calls her "my little Nutchka" (a hodge-podge nickname that came from a Russian diminutive for her name...went from Ronni, to Ronnutchka, to Nutchka







).

My MIL is Bahbuk. No one, including her, knows why. She asked to be called Grandma, and from the time DD was old enough to point at familiar objects, she knew that MIL was Grandma. "Where's Grandma?" we'd say, and she'd point to her. However, when she started talking, she called her Bahbuk. MIL thought it was awesome that DD had made up a name for her, and we just decided that it was fine, so we call her Bahbuk, too. Now, DD will say things like, "I'm going to see my grandma. Her name is Bahbuk!" It cracks me up!


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## mtnsunshinemama (Sep 21, 2004)

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=202977

There are lots of other interesting names on this thread too!


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## atomicmama (Aug 21, 2004)

My mom is "Bebe." Because she didn't like the typical monicers(sp?)!
FIL is Papa Joe, because he is! His wife is Nana, she is definetly _not_ a "grandma" type!
MIL is Grandma black hair...she has black hair! _My_ Grandma is refered to as Grandma white hair!


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## zaftigmama (Feb 13, 2004)

My parents are Grammy and Papa - although it's funny, my dd started calling him Papa - my sister's kids call him Grampy and I assumed mine would too. But dd was calling them both Grammy, and I was emphasizing the P sound in Grampy, and she started calling him Papa. He's fine with that.

My IL's wanted to be Grammy and Grampy as well. But when I talk about them to my kids, I call them Grammy Harriet and Papa Fred, or else they think I'm talking about my parents. So, that's what they call my IL's and of course that bothers my IL's, because everything I do bothers them. I love that my dd says Harriet a lot like hare-lip. But, it's better than a lot of what my kids could hear me mutter under my breath about them.

My Nana is called Nana by everyone. And her husband, who isn't my grandfather is called Pa. My kids are so lucky to have great grandparents!


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## Ann-Marita (Sep 20, 2003)

My dh's parents are "Grandma" and "Grandpa". I had suggested "Nannie" to MIL, since my own paternal grandmother was called Nannie, and because MIL's own mother was called "Nannie" by DH and his generation. But she preferred "Grandma".

My stepfather was named Jack, and he was going to be "Grand-Jack", but, alas, he died just days before dd was born after a long painful illness.

My maternal grandparents were called "Mam-maw" (sort of rhymes with ham-ha), and "Pap-paw" (again the first a is like ham). All their (many!) grandkids and great-grandkids, and even cousins who were not their own decendants called them this. The names were unique, and a matched set, and I think that's why the names lasted.


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## shishkeberry (Sep 24, 2004)

My ds isn't old enough to talk yet, but we've been calling my MIL "Grandma" and my mother "Nanna". That's what they wanted to be called. DS has two grandpas but they are not allowed to be involved in his life so I don't know what we'll refer to them as.


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## JayGee (Oct 5, 2002)

My parents are Oma and Opa, although my Mom is the only one who is German-born. I think my Dad just likes being Opa







!

DS calls DH's Mom "Nennie". All her other grandchildren call her Nettie or Mama Nettie, but DS couldn't say Nettie properly and Nennie has stuck! MIL loves it ~ she even signs all her cards "Nennie" now







. Unfortunately, my FIL passed away many years ago and my children never had the honor of knowing him







.


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## calpurnia (Sep 26, 2004)

No children yet, but I call my grandparents Mary and Big Harry (my brother is a Harry as well) so that's plain and simple! But my paternal grandparents are called Oumi - Afrikaans for Granny, & even her cleaner calls her Mrs Oumi - and Poppi.

I like it best when there's a funny family name - one set of my great grandparents were Boo & Ban.


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## djinneyah (Sep 4, 2004)

we do gramma and mumpa for my parents, and dh's parents are are gramma and grandpa.

then there's *my* grandma...she insists on being called "gigi" and NOT great-grandma.

and the "extended family" (my friend for years and years and her parents). my friend is called nana, her father is papa, and her mother is mamuzzer :LOL

DS knows who these people are, but hasn't quite got the hang of saying their names yet. soon, though.


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## wende (Oct 4, 2003)

Grandma (first name) and Grandpa (first name) They have too many grandparents to do it otherwise.


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## lotusdebi (Aug 29, 2002)

*


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## jraohc (Nov 5, 2004)

Interesting question. DD is first grandchild on both sides. We sort of let our parents choose. My mother didn't want to have the same "name" as mil (not because she doesn't like mil, but because she just felt they should have different names). I also wanted everyone to have their own name.

mil and fil are grandma and grandpa. DH's grandma and grandpa became great-grandma and great-grandpa.

My mother became nana (my maternal grandma was nana) and my father we're still not completely sure about, but he is probably pop-pop. The reason we're still undecided is because my maternal grandpa is still alive and he's pop-pop and "great pop-pop" just doesn't flow like "great-grandpa", so we're in this odd (at least for me and my mom) situation were the two pop-pop's are different generations. DD doesn't talk yet, so it's not really an issue, but we'll see what happens.


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## mirlee (Jul 30, 2002)

This is tough in our family:

Dh's grandmother is Gaga to everyone
His mom is Grandma at the Farm (well, she lives on a "farm")
His mom's partner is Grandpa Doc (retired doctor and well, we all call him Doc)

My parents are grandma and grandpa
My grandmother on my mom's side is Gram
My grandmother on my dad's side is Bubbie


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## hallesmom (Oct 27, 2003)

Our DD is the first grandchild on both sides. We call my mom grandma which she is fine with but also like "Grandma Peacock..." (don't ask...) My dad wants to be called Grampy, but we usually call him grumps!
DH's mom is Nanny..I think??

Not too interesting here! When I was younger I only saw one set of my grandparents-but it was still Grandma (lastname) Grandpa (lastname).


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## kristyn (May 17, 2004)

my mom is Nana.. also what i called my grandmother, as i was instructed to call her Nonna (italian) but ended up with nana.
my stepdad is Opa (he's austrian)
my dad is Boppa.. what i and my cousins called our grandfather,
my MIL is Grandma, and FIL is Granpa
My kids also have thier great grandparents, Gramma, Nonno and Rosa..


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## cyrusmama (Oct 17, 2004)

nak...Well..we aren't original at all.

Icalled my grandparents "grandma ____ " and "grandpa _______" (first names) when referring to them DH did the same but with last names. when talking to them they are just grandma or grandpa.

my dad has other grandkids, they call him paw-paw and his wife nanny. Which I assume DS will also do. My mom and MIL,FIL don't have other grandkids. So, I assumed DS would decide what to call them...but my mom wants to be called granny or grammy







. Would it be wrong to teach ds to call her Ninny?


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## krae (May 3, 2004)

My mother is "Memere" - she's from a French-Canadian background, that's what I called my grandmother, she call hers, etc.

My father is "Grandpa" (parents are divorced).

My FIL is "Pop-Pop".

After a lot of consideration, MIL decided she wanted to be called "Grammy". DN say is Mimi, but DH and I are trying to push DD to say "Grammy" b/c "Mimi" sounds too much like "Memere".


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## squeakermansmom (Sep 17, 2002)

Mima and Poppy - it's just how my ds pronounced grandma


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## Colorful~Mama (Feb 20, 2003)

my mother was bubbie, her mother (my grandmother) was Nana to me and my sister and to my children. Both died before knowing their grandchildren other then dd#1 who was 2 when mom died adn 4 when nana died

my parents were divorced and dad remarried. They are "by their own choosing"
Poppy and Ooma (like oma but with an ooooo sound).

My dh's father is Grampa and his wife (dh's stepmother) is just Janet. SHe's not a gramma type. like at all.
dh's mom passed when he was 18


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## whimsy (Aug 6, 2004)

Grandma (first name) and Papa (first name)

We have lots of grandparents biological and "adopted" so that makes it easy

The only exceptions are my grandparents - my Dad's mom is Nana and we don't acknowledge my mothers parents at all.


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## zipperump-a-zoomum (Jan 9, 2002)

My partner's parents are Pee Paw and G. Mostly because my brother-in-law went on a search to find the most obnoxious grandparent name and saddle his dad with it. It took a lot of work, but sure enough he got ds#1 to use the delightful "pee paw," and it has stuck. (Sincere apologies to anyone who uses this name seriously







) G because it is what she wanted. (Yes, it does make her sound like a bad ass rapper grannie, but hey.)

My parents are grandma and grampa.
K


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## Cutie Patootie (Feb 29, 2004)

I have been thinking about this lately and I figured that I would just call everyone grandma and grandpa and then let the kids figure it out for themselves. I always called my grandparents g'ma and g'pa. My MIL wants her grandkids to call her "owl".







I don't know why it bugs me so much. I guess it's just silly. :LOL


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## kimmysue2 (Feb 26, 2003)

My dad is Bobby beats me where he got it but that is what he calls him and my mom is nanma from grandma from grammy from mem mem from em em


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## IncaMama (Jun 23, 2004)

My mom is Nanny (what we called her mom), my dad is Abuelito (he's peruvian, it's the spanish word for grandpa). my IL's are different story. My MIL's mom is Grandma Bubby and since DH always called her just Grandma, I figured MIL would want to be Grandma. I had told her that i don't care what she's called as long as it isn't too similar to Mommy. I didn't want her to be Mom-Mom or something like that, kwim? She WAS fine with it but then she went nutso and told me that she had this dream and her grandmothers visited her and asked her why she was called Grandma when she didn't even like that name...so then MIL told me she wants to be called Memmy. i was like "WHAT?? and how is that NOT similar to Mommy??" it's still a real point of contention between us, but there are so many that it just blends together. LOL

so MIL is now Memmy and FIL is Pop-Pop.

but MIL now avoids seeing us for some reason so Rowan basically doesn't call her anything. whatever.


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## eilonwy (Apr 3, 2003)

My mother is Nanny-- she hates it, but that's been her name for almost seven years. A family friend who takes care of his grandmother calls her "Nanny" and he taught my niece to call my mother Nanny as soon as she could talk, so that's that.

MIL is Grandma. FIL was supposed to be Grandpa, but every time he saw BeanBean he'd say "hey, Buddy-Buddy!" BeanBean started to call Grandpa "BuddyBuddy" so that's his name now.

One of my sisters is "Bananas" for the same reason that FIL is BuddyBuddy; the other sister is "Altacacca," a not very polite Yiddish word for an old person. (No, she's not old-- long story. :LOL)

We have a family friend who is older, and she's "Bubbe;" Mike's grandmother is Grandma Lastname (which is what all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren call her). Mike's other grandparents have passed away, but MIL talks to BeanBean about "Grussmummy" and "Grussdaddy" all the time; that's how Mike & SIL referred to her parents when they were alive.


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## AahRee (Jan 23, 2003)

DD calls both Grandmas *GaGa*, because she has trouble pronouncing Grandma, and both Grandpas are *GaPa*, for the same reason. However, she calls her uncle Zio, because he's Italian.


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## *LoveBugMama* (Aug 2, 2003)

*My mother is MORMOR.

This is the Norwegian word for maternal grandmother, meaning mothers mother. (Mor=mother)

*My father is MORFAR. (Mor=mother, Far=father. Mothers father.)

*Noahs paternal grandmother is called BESTEMOR, wich is a word you can use about both paternal and maternal grandmothers. It means -the best mother-

(Beste= the best, Mor=mother.)

If we had wanted to use the same kind of names on his paternal grandparent as on his maternal ones, they would be called:

*FARMOR
(FAR=father, MOR=mother. Fathers mother)

*FARFAR
(FAR= father. Fathers father)

Noahs paternal grandfather died 2 months ago, so unfortunately Noah has no BESTEFAR anymore.









(Beste= the best, FAR= father. The best father.)


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