What grandparent names do you use?

DawnMarch

DawnMarch

Active member
In my family, we've always just called the grandparents grandma & grandpa. To tell them apart, we'll call my mom, for instance Grandma Linda. I was kidding with my kids that since my parents live in the south, that when my parents visited us last month, we should call them meemaw and pawpaw. The kids thought that was hysterical and called them that the whole trip. My parents, who actually hear people called that all the time, didn't get why my kids thought that was so funny. :D I had a friend whose family called the grandfather "pop pop" which I always loved.

So, what do you call the grandparents in your family?
 
Well...I only knew my mom's parents and we call(ed) them Grandma and Grandpa. My kids call(ed) them Nana and Papa. My grandma is still with us and my grandpa passed in 2012.

My kids call my mom Mamaw (my daughter started that) but the rest of the grandkids call her grandma.
 
My mom is just Grandma Karen but my dad is Puppa b/c my niece couldn't pronounce Grandpa. It just stuck with the rest of the kids.

My MIL's name is JoAnn so my daughter calls her Grandma Jo-Jo (another pronunciation struggle) and her husband is just plain Grandpa.
 
We called my dad's parents Vavô (pronounced vavoo) and Vavó (pronounced vavoe) which are Portuguese for Grandpa and Grandma. We didn't know my mother's parents but, when talking about them, we called them Vavô and Vavó my mother's maiden name.
 
My son calls all three sets Grandpa & Grammie. I tried to get him to pick different ones for each set, but he insisted. The rest of my nieces and nephews call my dad and my step-dad (two different sets of kids) Papa, but not my kid. When he wants to differentiate he says the 'ones from the motel' (cause they always rent a room when they visit us), the 'ones with the cows' and the 'ones who are daddy's mommy and daddy'. No joke. Seems like it would have been easier to pick their own names. I called mine Grandma & Grandpa and their last names.
 
My parents are Mamaw & Papaw. Hubby's parents are Grandpa (first name) and Grandma (first name).

My sister and her husband are Mimi & Poppy.

No idea what we'll be when the time comes, but I definitely want something different than just Grandma & Grandpa.
 
My kids call my husband's parents Grandpa Mike and Grandma. My mom insisted on being Nana (fine with me!) but my dad insisted on being Grandpa too. Oh well.

When I was a kid I had three sets of grandparents (dad's parents were divorced) and they all had different names. One set was Grandma and Grandpa, one was Me-Maw and Pa-Paw (I never until now realized that was just a southern thing! haha), and one was Gam-Gam (a pronunciation issue that just stuck, later shortened to Gam) and Papa.
 
carrie1977 said:
I know some people whose children call their grandpa "plain grandpa." They were trying to explain which grandpa and it came out "plain grandpa" and that just stuck. LOL!
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That's funny! I love when silly little things have a story to go with them. :)
 
In Norway you would usually call a grandmother either mormor (mother's mother) or farmor (father's mother) or bestemor (grandma). We call my mil farmor and my mum is nan. My dad is grandad (or grumpy as I like to call him). My grandfather is oldefar (anchient father) to my kids and my grandparents in England are nan and grandad to me and oldemor and oldefar (ancient mother and ancient father) to my kids. I know my mother used to call her grandparents (from France) Meme and Pepe.
 
Mine are Mamaw & Papaw and Granny & Papaw.

My kids' grandparents are Joodge (because my dad was the county judge at the time and my son couldn't say judge correctly) and Baba and Doc & Mimi.
 
My son calls my mom Grammy and my dad is Grandad. His grandparents on his dad's side have both passed but they were Grandma and Grandpa.

I called my mom's parents Nanu (I mispronounced Nana) and Grandad, whereas my dad's were Granny and Grandpa. They all lived in England so only saw them 3 times in my life.
 
My kids call my parents in Cantonese and my husband's parents in Korean. In Chinese (and Korean) culture the grandparents on dad and mom's sides have different names so there's no need to differentiate it.
 
Our case is similar to Grace.
I call my dad's parents Opa & Oma (because of the Dutch influence) and my mom's parents Engkong & Emak (Indonesian & Chinese mixed influence).

My son calls my parents Laoye & Laolao and my husband's parents Yeye & Nainai, following the proper Chinese tradition according to my husband. So there's never been a mixed up :)
 
I had a Grandma and Grandpa and a Grandma and Papa growing up.

My ILs are Grammy & Pops (they were grandparents before I married DH so I don't know the story behind those names) and my parents are Grandma and Grandpa. My kids also have a Great-Grandma [last name] and a Great-Grandpa [first name] on my side.

I've already decided that I'm going to be a Nana. :wub:
 
My parents are Nana and Gramps to our children. My husband's parents are Oma (German influence) and Grandad.
 
Love all the variety! I especially love that so many people use names that are unique to their family because something just "stuck"!
 
When we were kids, we called our grandparents Grandma Hunt or Grandma Royal (their last names). But then when my sisters and I started having children, they called their grandparents mamaw and papaw...they called our Grandma Hunt Grandma HooHoo. Now that my oldest daughter has children, they call us MomMom and Pops because that's what my grandson could pronounce...I have to admit, I really love being called MomMom...I didn't want to be a mamaw...because that is my mom and my mil's title :) So every one is happy!
 
ScrappinRae said:
When we were kids, we called our grandparents Grandma Hunt or Grandma Royal (their last names). But then when my sisters and I started having children, they called their grandparents mamaw and papaw...they called our Grandma Hunt Grandma HooHoo. Now that my oldest daughter has children, they call us MomMom and Pops because that's what my grandson could pronounce...I have to admit, I really love being called MomMom...I didn't want to be a mamaw...because that is my mom and my mil's title :) So every one is happy!
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MomMom is adorable and is fitting for a grandmother name (mom of the mom!).
 
Rachel calls my parents NiNi (Nee-Nee) and Grandpa. My in-laws were both dead long before I even met my husband, so she usually refers to them as "my dad's mom/dad."
 
My father's parents were always referred to as "Grandma and Grandpa". My mother's parents were "Nana and Grandpa". My Nana's mother was Grammy Dow (Dow was her last name.)
When I had children, my mom did not want to be "Grandma" and since her mom was still alive, Nana was out... Grammy Dow was also still alive - so Grammy was out - though my mom really wanted to stay away from anything that denoted her as a grandparent, lol, so she wouldn't have used Grammy anyway.
My mom finally decided on the German "Omar" we pronounce it "oo-ma". I am not sure how it supposed to be pronounced. My dad went with the traditional Grandpa. My in-laws were Grammy and Grampy.

When I finally became a grandmother, I also looked for something different. My husband and I chose the Italian versions... I am Nonnie and he is Poppie. My husband is French Canadian, so his parents are "Pepre" and "Memre" - I think that's how it is spelled... they say it "pep-ay" and "mem-ay".

This is a fun thread!
 
I always wanted cool names for grandparents! Both sets are called Grandpa & Grandma (last names). I have 3 grandparents still alive so they're all called Grandpa/Grandma (first names). We can tell everyone apart that way. All grandparents live within 30 minutes of our home so we see them all the time.
 
My maternal grandparents were Bobe (grandmother) and Zeyde (grandfather), which are Yiddish (my mom was born in Germany just before her family fled Germany during the Nazi reign).

My paternal grandparents were also from Germany and we called them Oma/grossmutter (pronounced gross-mooter with a rolling of the first R ;) ) and Opa/grossvater (pronounced gross-votter with the same rolling R). The Oma and Opa were informal but there were times when we used the more formal out of respect.

Cheyanne called her paternal grandmother Nana (DH's father died long before she was ever born). She calls my parents Grammie and Grampie.
 
I had a Grandma & Grandpa and a Nanny & Papa.

My son has a Nana & Papa and a Gram & Daddy Dave (he decided that before my son was born because that was what he called his grandfather).
 
We have Grandma --last_name-- and Grandpa --last_name-- for both sides of the family. It is what my husband and I called our grandparents growing up. I think other names are funny unless they come naturally. My MIL wanted to be called Mimi or Nana (I can't remember, I think it was Nana), but I have an Aunt whose actual name is Mimi and the other names didn't stick because my son just always called her Grandma. I'm sure we probably hurt her feelings about that. But, thankfully for her... their youngest grandchild calls them Mimi and Papa. They do call themselves that even with us and to my children now, which actually hurts the kids because it makes them feel like their names for them have been replaced... my daughter especially gets very hurt when MIL calls herself Mimi. LOL sigh. Why this is even a THING baffles me. LOL!
 
My parents:
Mee-Mom/Mee-Maw (depending on which child) and Grumpy

His parents:
Mammie and Papa

My grandparents: (deceased)
Grammy and Pappy
Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop

His grandparents: (deceased)
Mother and Uncle Chet
Grandma Leila and I can't remember his name (sorry)
 
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