Grand parent names

[disneyhand]

My Niece is expecting her first child in July and this will be the first grand child for my sister and her husband. Several family members were chatting tonight and wondering what this sweet baby boy will call his grandparents. We named every name we could think of, but nothing sounded right for them.

So being curious, I thought I would ask here. The Dis knows everything and always comes up with the best ideas.

What do you or did you call your grandparents and or/ what do your grandchildren call you? Or what cool names have you heard from others.

What is the best way to decide what they're called? Do the grandparents, or parents choose the name or do you wait for the child to name them? Of course in that case they could go nameless for a while!

Anyway thanks for your help. And yes, we have googled names too. Nothing felt right.

Thanks!

 

[maelstrom]

I have a Nana and a Papa, and a Grandma and a Grandpa. My niece has a Mee-ma and a Pee-pa.

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

I used Grandma and Grandpa, but my godsons use Grammy and Pop-Pop.

Congratulations to your family!

 

[disneycruising]

My children call Grandpa, Papa.This was the name that my FIL picked. They call Grandma, Grandmommy. This happen to be what my oldest DD called my MIL when she was about 2 or 3.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I had Nana and Pop-pop, and Grandma and Grandpa (my cousins call them ma'am maw and pap paw).

My kids have Nana, Grandpa Robert, and Gramma and Grandpa Hank

DH had Oma and Opa (German family), and Grandmother and Grandfather

My parents live in Mexico and I had thought 'buela and 'buelo would be cute--but my mom really wanted to be Nana which is fine too and my dad really wanted to have as little association with anything "old" sounding as possible so he started of as just Robert--but my kids added grandpa when they got old enough to think for themselvs so i guess he lost that battle

 

[dollydell]

another that I have heard is Granny and Poppy

 

[autumnpalm]

I had a Nana and Papa and a Grandma and Gramps.

 

[wilma-bride]

Slightly different here in the UK - I have/had a Grandma and Grandpa (Mum's parents) and Nan and Gramps (Dad's parents).

My Dad is Grampy to my children (it is a local word in the South West of England). We like it - and quite often my DS calls him Grumpy Grampy

 

[Sparx]

I call my grandmother, "Nanny."

I've never heard anyone else call their grandparents that!

 

[maslex]

Growing up we had a Grammy and Grampa (dad's side) and a Memere and Pepere (mom's side---pronounced mem-may and pep-pay)

I've also heard Nonni (a lady at work is called that along with another lady that I know)

***when I was preggo with my first son, my MIL insisted that she be called "auntie cheryl". She thought she was too young to be a grandmother (she was 45 at the time) needless to say I always taught my child to call her grandma.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Growing up we had a Grammy and Grampa (dad's side) and a Memere and Pepere (mom's side---pronounced mem-may and pep-pay)

I've also heard Nonni (a lady at work is called that along with another lady that I know)

***when I was preggo with my first son, my MIL insisted that she be called "auntie cheryl". She thought she was too young to be a grandmother (she was 45 at the time) needless to say I always taught my child to call her grandma.

My dad was 44 and he is the one who wanted just Robert. I respected that and did teach my kids that--but as they got older tehey added the grandpa becuase otherwise their friends had no idea who they were talking about Anyway, by then he was used to the idea of grandparenthood so he was okay with it. I cannot imagine having intentionally taught my kids to call their grandparents something the grandparents did not like. Honestly, that seems awfully disrespectful to to me--I sure wouldn't want someone else telling peopel to call me by a name I did not wish to go by

 

[aprilgail2]

I cannot imagine having intentionally taught my kids to call their grandparents something the grandparents did not like. Honestly, that seems awfully disrespectful to to me--I sure wouldn't want someone else telling peopel to call me by a name I did not wish to go by

My poor mom always wanted to be called grandma or nana---well when my daughter started talking she couldn't say grandma so she was Gei Gei....then she became Goo Goo and my daughter finally settled on calling her Ploopy....grams grew to like that name LOL....she didn't have much choice.

 

[Katy Belle]

My Grandmothers died while I was very young, so I don't remember what I called them. We called my Grandfathers Grandpa and Granddad. My kids call theirs Grandma Elaine and Grandpa Jim and Grandpa Walter and Grandma Marj.

I have a sweet friend from Texas and her little ones call their Grandmother "Honey" and Grandfather "Papa." I love it! She said "HOney" is just what some people choose, but I had never heard of it.

 

[lovesmurfs]

My grandparents were simply Grandma and Granddad. To avoid confusion, when talking about them, we'd say "Grandma Smith" or "Granddad Jones".

When my kids were born, my mother was very particular about what they should be called -- my MIL (with 5 other grandchildren) had already "taken" Grammy, which is what my mom wanted to be called. So DM decided she wanted to be Grandy. Which is a bit of a pain because there are no Mother's Day cards which say "Grandy". My grandmother wanted my kids to call her "Mom-Mom" confused3), but she wound up being Grandma "Mary" instead.

In writing this, I guess I'd mentally blocked out the drama surrounding the naming of the grandparents......

 

[Northstar]

My grandparents were Nana and Poppop (on my dad's side... that's where Poppop comes from, I guess) and Grandma and Granddad.

My daughter called her grandmas Grandma Joan and Grandma Ruth. That's because my mom was supposed to be Nana, but she was already Grandma to my brother's children and she kept calling herself Grandma to my DD (as in "Grandma needs a kiss, sweetie!").

The grandfathers were Granddad and Grandpa.

 

[wilma-bride]

I cannot imagine having intentionally taught my kids to call their grandparents something the grandparents did not like. Honestly, that seems awfully disrespectful to to me--I sure wouldn't want someone else telling peopel to call me by a name I did not wish to go by

I agree - my step-Mum doesn't want to be called Grandma for the very fact that she is not (technically) their Grandmother - the same reason I don't call her Mum. She is Aunty Ivy (and now, to my older children, just Ivy). I do buy her a card from the kids for Grandparents day but I try really hard to find one that doesn't say 'To Grandma' or anything else like that - usually one that just says 'With love on Grandparents Day' or something similar. Similarly, with birthday cards, we would never dream of getting a 'Grandma' card from the kids. It is just respecting her wishes.

 

[SDFgirl]

My parents are called Grandma and Grandpa.

My in-laws are Nana and Pappo.

I just asked them what they wanted to be called, they chose these names and my daughter just learned them.

Actually, my DFIL chose "Papaw" (which I didn't really like, but oh well) and my DD kinda shortened it to Pappo.

 

[Magic Mom]

My grandparents and parents are Grandma and Grandpa. DH's dad is Poppop and his mom likes to be called Bubbie because she fancies herself to be "a Jew." She's not, but it makes her feel good to think that she came from Jews so we humor her. Really I just think the term Grandma or Mommom made her feel old so she opted for Bubbie instead.

I hope to be Grandma one day (not soon). Or I could pretend to be Jewish too and be Bubbie but I think Grandma fits me more.

 

[NHdisneylover]

My poor mom always wanted to be called grandma or nana---well when my daughter started talking she couldn't say grandma so she was Gei Gei....then she became Goo Goo and my daughter finally settled on calling her Ploopy....grams grew to like that name LOL....she didn't have much choice.

To me it is a totally different thing when a young child missprounces the name and then something naturally evolves from that (like my best friend in high school whose grandmother was Bommie which came from her trying to say Bobby's mommy when she was little) than if an adult parent intentionally goes against the adult grandparents' wishes in what to have the child call him/her.

My nieces other grandmother is "Grandmother Lastname" It strikes my DSiL and her husband as ridiculously formal, but they called her that when speaking to the kids when they were little anyway and now that is how she is known--they figured it was her prerogative to choose.

 

[kilee]

I called my grandparents the good old-- grandma and grandpa.

Now my son calls my parents and his dads parents the same thing.

The one we did have though was my son was my grandparents first great grandchild. Whenever an occasion would come around and my son received a card from them my grandmother would sign it "gg" for great-grandma. Over a few years it turned into him and then subsequent great-grandchildren calling her "Gi-Gi". It got to the point everyone started calling her gi-gi and she even started going by that. Then someone asked my grandpa if she's gi-gi what do you want us to call you-- he said "George" would be fine without even pausing. (His name is Andrew). So, they became "Gi-Gi" and "George" and that is how EVERYONE refers to them now.