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The "What do you call your Grandparents?" Thread

Big Owl

Big Owl

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I was having a conversation with my Mom the other day about what she wanted to be called by the grandkids when that happens. Well in a way it is almost to late because my foster child calls her "nanna" and i don't see that changing but we originally did not think that would be permemnant but as reunification with the biological parents is no longer an option we are presuing adoption to make her a permement fixture in our family. So anyways with that and a little one on the way we are starting to give things like that much more thought.

I called my paternal grandparents "Ma" and "Pa" and my maternal grandparents "Mam-Maw" and "Pap-Paw".

so with that being said what do you call your grandparents or does your kids call your parents?
 
For me - On Dad's side it's Grammy and Grampy. On my mom's side it is/was Gram and Papa.

For Wes - on my side it's Memre and Grampa Joe, and on Planner Groupie's side it's Nana and Papa.
 
moms side it was grandmother (learned real quick not to call her greasy granny as a kid!) and popow

Dads side was me maw and papa and grand mame'
 
I call (ed) my grandparents Gran and Grumpy (no that's no a typo) and Nana and Grandaddy.

Isabelle has Grandmere and Grandpere on her father's side. It will be interesting to see if she changes that by not being able to pronounce them at first or whether they will stick to their guns and not allow her to call them anything else.

My parents have said it is up to her to choose what to call them. I suspect she will end up calling them by their first names, Elizabeth and Peter.
 
For me it was either Grandma and Grandpa or ooma(sp) and ompa(sp). I'm down to one grandma right now, though while growing up I had several great grandmothers.
 
My Mom's side: I call my grandfather John and his 3rd wife Evelyn. My siblings and I have always called our elders by their first names except for our great-grandparents. They were Great Grandma and Papa. Don't get me wrong, the respect is still there. If not, then there's consequences and repercussions to pay.

My Dad's side: We called our Grandma, Grandma. Our aunts and uncles we call them by their first name too. No Aunt such and such or Uncle Whatshisname.

My wife calls her Grandma her Nanny. Her nieces call her Dad, PopPop.
 
The one grandparent I knew was "Grandma."

For my kids, it's Grandma & Grampa and Nana & Papa. Their Great Grandmother is G-G.
 
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I only met my grandparents on my father's side and they were Nana and Grandpa. My grandmother was Mormor.

For my kids, it is Nee (probably my son's shortening of "nanny") and Grampa from my wife's side. On my side my kid's call my mom Farmor. My dad passed away before my kids were born.

Mor means mother in Danish -- far means father. By mixing the names, Mormor, Morfar, Farfar and Farmor, you can easily tell the relationship to the child.
 
Maternal: Nana and Budder (Have no clue where this came from, but all my yuonger brothers followed suit)

Paternal: Grandma K. and Grandpa K. (I guess there last name was too long to say)
 
I call my maternal grandparents - Grandma and Grandpa.
My paternal granparents are called Nona and PawPaw.
Mac calls his maternal grandparents - Gran and Opa.
Mac calls his paternal grandparents - Nanny and Poppy.
Mr. TN calls his maternal grandmother - Nana.
Mr. TN calls his paternal grandparents - Grandma and Uncle Elmer (step grandfather).
 
One of Blake's grandmothers chose "Jax", short for her first name, Jackie. Her mom was "Mama Jax" to the previous generation of grandchildren.

Blake's other grandmother couldn't decide, so Blake started calling her Gamby. She thought that was perfect.

Blake's grandpa chose "Pa Pa"

We call Blake's deceased grandfather "Grampa David" when we point him out in the photo album.

I really only had one grandfather and one grandmother that I knew, so just a simple "Gramma" and "Grampa" was enough.
 
Grandma and Grandpa....though all my grandparents are now deceased, as are my wife's.
 
I only knew one grandparent and we called him Pop-pop.

My son calls my mom Grandma. I refused to let him use the same name his cousins use for her: Num-Num (gag).
 
I called my grandparents Grandma (and her husband was Grampa Charlie although he died before I knew him) on my mom's side and Dotmama (her name was Dot) and Pops on my dad's side.

For our Wee P, she is the youngest of the grandkids in this generation so the names were set. My mom is Mama Lib (her name is Mary Elizabeth) and dad is Papa Ken (see a trend?). Mrs. P's parents are Memaw and Papaw.

Big Owl, I had never heard Memaw and Papaw until I moved in NC some 20+ years ago. Do you think its more regional? Are there any other names that seem regional?
 
I call my mom's mother "grammie" and my dead grandfather "grampie."

My father's father is "grampa," and his third wife is "Bev."

His former wife, and my late grandmother, was called "nannie."

Mrs. JM calls her gramma "yey" and her grampa "tha" or "khong."
 
I am of Ukrainian descent and call my grandmother's "Baba" and when my grandfathers were alive called them "Dido".
 
Planit said:
Big Owl, I had never heard Memaw and Papaw until I moved in NC some 20+ years ago. Do you think its more regional? Are there any other names that seem regional?
Click to expand...

Well, I think that there are some names that are unique to a region. When i first heard "Gramps" it was on "Son in Law" the Pauly Shore movie. Since i have met folks from the mid west that has a "Gramps". I would imagine that Memaw and Papaw are originaly from the south. I had a former girlfriend that called her grandmother, "granny" and grandfather "Old Man Ed"... i think he was a stepgrandfather. I just rember he would drink heavy at christmas and hand out cash - a couple of dollars to the Great Grandkids, a five to the grandkids and a ten to the kids, and some how i managed for two years managed to get a twenty.;) go figure.

But getting back to you question i think that it was probably more regional at some point and we are now more blended.

I did find this website the other night, which features a list of nick names for grand parents
 
My maternal grandparents were Pawpaw and Gammy
My paternal grandparents were Pepa and Memaw

My godmother was Zawn.

Think it is a Southern thing.

My son calls my parents Granddad and Mere (French for mother). My wife's father is dead and my son calls his maternal grandmother Abuela (Spanish for granmother)
 
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On my dad's side: Grandma and Grandpa (their kids called them mom and dad)

On my mom's side: Grandmother and Grandpadaddy (to their kids they were Mother and Daddy)

My husband family is different.
On mother's side: Na-naw
On father's side: Granny and Grandad.

When I lived in Germany, my host father liked the sound of Grandpadaddy so much, he chose that for himself when he (finally!) had grandkids.:)

Since we don't have kids, we haven't had the discussion of what to call our parents if they become Grandparents again. My niece calls my parents Gramma and Granpa (no D's), so it may be something close to that.
 
I was JUST thinking about this...

I was discussing with my sister the other day that my dad's parents weren't good grandparents. I know that sounds awful, but they were mean to us my whole life (and my dad's) and growing up, we called them the basic Grampa and Gramma Lastname. Now, those titles have a fairly negative connotation with them, so I don't want my parents to be called Grampa and Gramma Lastname, but my dad isn't creative and doesn't really see the need for anything different.

When I became a teenager, we started calling them G&G, which is much easier. Now that G has been gone for 15 minutes and G is getting married [this weekend] to a woman he met online 10 minutes ago, I call them "G & whatsherface", and quite frankly, I think that's fine!!:-D

(too much information??)
 
My grandma was Grandma first name.
The boys - my parents - Nana or Grammy and Paw-paw
EX's mom - Gamma Dee

I love hearing little ones (and adults) say Grandaddy but it never went over with my boys...always been paw-paw...
 
Right On...

michaelskis said:
Grandma (last name) Grandpa (last name).

Simple, easy, not creative.
Click to expand...

As it should be.....this is what I call them......:-D

I've never heard anyone say "grammy" without it sounding puerile:-| but then again, I'm sure there are many out there that think Grandma and Grandpa is straight out of the backwoods of Weeeest Virginiee. ;-) :cool:
 
Mom's side: Grandma Jeanne and Granddad
Dad's side: Grandma Laura (his dad died before I was born, so no reference there)
 
Mom's Side: Memaw and Papaw

Dad's Side: Mawmaw (when she was living) and Pawpaw

I also have a great grandmother on my Mom's side who I call, Grammy.
 
Mine were grandma and grandpa and then their last name. My mom refuses to be called grandma, so she has been teaching the grandkids to call her mama jo (I prefer jo mama)m which is what my cousins called her when they were wee ones.
 
Gampy Speaks

My Mother's side of the family was from Poland / Germany. To us kids her parents were Busha ("Booshaw") and JaJa. They both died in the mid-1950's, when this Bear was just a little guy.

My Father's side of the family was from Lithuania / Russia / Poland. My Dad's father died in the early 1950's and I never met him. My Dad's Mother was always just "Grandma" to us kids. She was a neat lady, living to a nifty old age, smoking Winstons until the day she died, only able to speak a few words of English.

She lived in the Point Place area of Toledo, in a big house right on Maumee Bay. Before they built the larger and taller breakwall (we don't call them "levees" around these parts) her neighborhood would flood whenever there was a strong east wind. In about 1970 it flooded so bad that the National Guard was called in to help evacuate the residents. (Hmmmm.....imagine that.)

Grandma, born and raised in the part of the world that the Russian Czar controlled, was terrified of any military.....so she fought the National Guard off with a broom. My older brother had to go out and help get her out of the house.
_____

My ex-wife (the Mother of my son) loves being called Busha. And this Bear has been called "Gampy" by my granddaughters, forever. It's my signature. :)

Bear
 
dad's side: Grammie and Bubbie
mom's side: Grammie (Last Name) and Pop (Last Name)

my sister recently had a kid and we are still working on grandparents names for my parents. it looks as if my dad will be Pop Pop. my mom was going to be Nana, but my brother-in-law's grandmother is Nana. then we thought Grandma but my sister has shortened it to Gammy. *gag*

most likely it will end up being whatever my nephew can pronounce.
 
Wow, I thought I was the only one with a MeMaw and PawPaw (southern family here too)...and on the other side it was Grandma and Grandaddy. Did you ever notice that if you say MeMawMeMawMeMaw over and over again right after itself it starts to sound like MommyMommyMommyMommy...
 
Grandma and Grandpa. Nothing to it. Their names were/is Marian, Ruth (Mom, Dad side) and Henry, William (Bill) (Mom, Dad side). I never ever refered to them other than Grandma or Grandpa.:)

Bill

_________

Mmmmm... I look good. I mean really good. Hey everyone... come and see how good I look!"

- Ron Burgundy
 
dandy_warhol said:
dad's side: Grammie and Bubbie
mom's side: Grammie (Last Name) and Pop (Last Name)

my sister recently had a kid and we are still working on grandparents names for my parents. it looks as if my dad will be Pop Pop. my mom was going to be Nana, but my brother-in-law's grandmother is Nana. then we thought Grandma but my sister has shortened it to Gammy. *gag*

most likely it will end up being whatever my nephew can pronounce.
Click to expand...

[ot]Glad to see you made it through Katrina:) [/ot]
 
I called my grandparents, Nana and Googie.

Now, our son (3 yrs old) has four sets of grandparents that he calls:

Nana & Papa (they're the only set living nearby, so I guess they get the "common" grandparent names....)
Callie & Geggie (versions of Carol & Greg)
Grandpa Chuckles & Grandma Laurie
Grandpa Lee

I think this weekend is Grandparents Day. Scratch the hallmark and take 'em out to their favorite buffet-style restaurant and bowling alley....:)
 
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