When I sent off Easter cards to my various grandchildren, and was signing my Grandma name to them, I couldn't help but giggle. My grandma name is different, depending on which set of grandchildren it is! Corey and his wife Mayra in California gave me my first grandchild, and shortly before she was born, they asked me what I'd like to be called. I honestly hadn't thought much about it, but my own children have various endearment-type names for me as their mother, one of them being "Moms," so "Grams" was a logical offshoot from that. So to the California grandkids, I'm Grams! Next in line to produce a grandchild was my next oldest. I started out being Grams to that granddaughter too, figuring that I'd be Grams for all my grandkids. But somehow that just never stuck, and evolved in Gramma. NOT GranDma, just Gramma. That's how those grandkids say it, and so it's how I spelled it. Then we come to my daughter and her husband, who were very opinionated about what they wanted their child to call me! No "normal" names for them! They thought about it for some months, and finally ended up with "Biddy." Yes, you heard right, Biddy!! I laughed long and hard at that one, and Biddy I became. However my sweet grandson River had trouble saying that word, so over time Biddy got shortened to just "Bee." So now I'm Bee to him, and the kids sometimes call me Ronnibee as an endearment. I LOVE that I have all these different names Grandma names! How about you? Those of you who are grandparents, or are aspiring to be such, or know folks who are, what are their names? And do you know how they were chosen?
Since I don't have kids and therefore no grandkids, I'll tell you of my sister's name. They raised their daughter mostly on Hawaii. So when she was to become a grandmother, she didn't want to be called Granny or anything like that because she said it made her sound old. So they all decided on TuTu, which is Hawaiian for grandmother.
When my first daughter was born, Gramma just became the name for my Mom....my Dad just turned 40 yrs old 9 days before she was born, he figured that was too young to be a Grampa so when she got old enough to talk he tried to get her to call him Mr. Glenn...that went over like a lead balloon. She would just giggle and say no, Grampa. Her other grandmother had passed 6 months before she was born and her other grandfather was a bit more formal but he adored her so she got to call him Grampa also. My youngest daughter always heard my parents called Gramma and Grampa so that's what she called them. Her other grandparents are called the same thing. When my first Grandson started talking he called me Bonka...don't know where that name came from but after hearing his Mom refer to me as Gramma, he fell in line with that name. I don't know what he and his brother call their other grandparents, they had 7 of us before one of them passed in '08. My Mom became GrammaBoo because she always played peek-a-boo with each of them when they were little. When talking about my Dad we call him GrampaBoo but neither of the boys ever met him. Now when I was a kid, my grandmother became Gumba Gumba to me because I couldn't say Grandmother or refused to say it. Then when I got older she became just Gumba. I was her first grandchild and the only one allowed to call her that. When my younger brother called her that one time she informed him that he was to call her Grandmother and all of her other grandchildren called her Grandmother too.
My granddaughter, whom I adore, calls me Poppa. Her brother, when he speaks at all (super intelligent, very talented musician, lacking social skills big time) calls me Gramps. The grandson in Oregon calls me Grampa or Poppy.
My granddaughters call us Grandpa Gene and Grandma Rosie. But at times my husband is called Grumpy Grandpa.
We had "Grandma & Grandpa" growing up and I never gave it much thought till my sister had her daughter who called my mom "Mamaw Marshie" My mother-in-law was called "Wogam" (we have no idea how Josh came up with that one) and my friends boys called her mom "Mugget" right up till the day she died, she loved it!
All this really makes me feel very envious (when it comes to having so many different names). I wish I too had this ability - It certainly would make dodging Court Notices and avoiding Bailiffs very easy! But as for the names of my grandparents - Well, I never met my paternal grandparents. I have seen their pictures, and have had many people talk about them in front of me (to the point where I sometimes feel that I did know them). But realistically speaking, I have never known them. However my elder siblings did, and so I called them whatever they called them. So in my language, a paternal grandfather is called Dadda (meaning grandfather), or Barray-Aaba (meaning big daddy). But in my home my paternal grandfather till this day is referred to as Dadda-jaan (meaning respectfully dear grandfather). Paternal grandmother is called Daddi (meaning grandmother). But in my home she is still referred to as Daadu. Maternal grandfather too I never met, as he had passed away a long time ago. So he was referred to by what my mother and all her siblings called him. Baa-Jaan, actually it should have been Aaba-Jaan (meaning respectfully dear father). But I guess his own kids twisted that into Baa-Jaan - And so that is what he is known to me as... However officially, a maternal grandfather is called Naana. And maternal grandmother is called Naani (officially, according to language). Maternal grandmother however (the only grand parent that I had known and met), was simply called Aamma - Which is a variation of the Arabic word for mummy, which is Yumma. But in my part of the world, a mother is often called Aamma, or nowadays as Aammi. So that is what I learned to called my maternal grandmother (the only grandparent I have ever met for real). However, it would really be an understatement to say that she was a real bat out of hell! Which is why, as I grew up, I started to refer to her with a feminine swear word + Aamma! And as I grew up a bit more, that swear word changed into an extremely vulgar feminine swear word + Aamma (which actually rimed too)! However, I never said that to her face - Which I guess is one of the regrets I now have to live with (as she is dead). It really would have been a very interesting and memorable situation, had I called/insulted her by that name directly! 8) But my father always knew I referred her in that way - He too wasn't exactly a fan of her's. But he only laughed when I'd say that, however at the same time he'd shake his head in disbelief also! Still, having the same enemy created a new and very rare type of father and son bonding, that I and my father shared! Even though he (out of politeness probably) never repeated what I called her - Even though I am today 100% sure he too wanted to call his mother-in-law by that name!!!
I never knew my paternal grandparents, they died either before I was born or not long after, dont remember which. My maternal grandfather everyone just called by his name, Fred. And my gramma I usually called Graham Cracker *lol* I now have surrogate grandparents I call Gramma Katie and Grampa Lucky (Lucky is what everyone calls him, its even on his work apron)
We don't have children but have been very lucky to have seen our friend's children grow up into lovely young people with children of their own. To them we have always been Uncle. Mark and auntie Karin,even as adults and even after the conversation saying you can drop the uncle/auntie bit! Now,when Sally had her first baby there was much discussion as to how we would be addressed and is how we have become Uncle Grandad and Auntie Grandma! We love it! When Graham and his wife had their little boy they now also refer to us in the same way. Our friends are Grandma and RaRa,because he is the one who plays at dragons etc and they roar,which Elena translated to RaRa.
Fond memories are in this. My daughter grew up loving her Bopa and Boma and Nanny and Pop Pop. Now I'll just sit here and do a little thinking. It was a joyful time back then.
I don't have grandchildren and don't remember my grandparents very well. However my children called my parents Wee Gran and Pa and Ian's parents Big Gran and Granddad. My mother was five foot nothing hence the 'wee' and Ian's mum was 5'8" and rather large in other ways too so she became 'Big Gran.'
This is fabulous! I love all these stories! A good friend of mine had decided that her child should call her parents Nanny and Poppa, and that's the way she always referred to them. Her child, however, given his young age and inability to pronounce the words well, gave them their own names.......Nam and Bop. To this very day, that's the way they are still referred to, by the child (now an adult with kids of his own) and and my friend. When my own kids started having kids and we would discuss what I would be called, I cautioned them that whatever they decided, the name may well evolve into something else, depending on the child and how well they could wrap their mouth around the name. That's how I ended up being Bee to River, because he couldn't manage Biddy, which, by the way, is still used, but more as a title, the same way you might refer to someone as Mother, but call them Mom. I'm referred to as Biddy, but called Bee. Some of my kids' friends have evolved their own names for me too. I've never been one for formal address, so have always corrected a kid gently when they called me Mrs, and instead just asked to be called Ronni. Over the years, that's evolved into a variety of names. "Ronita" is one that caught on with a lot of Paige's friends. I recently received a wedding invitation from one of her friends, addressed to Ronita I'm called Mama M (for my last name) by some of the younger boys' friends. Also a couple of Grayson's friends call me "Grayson's Mom!" No, they don't refer to me that way, they CALL me that......"Oh hey, Grayson'sMom, how are you?" I called my own mother Mum, though we also had a tendency to refer to each other as Mrs. J and Mrs. M, for our last names. Consequently, I will sometimes refer to Paige as Mrs. G. I'm really big on endearments and nicknames. All my kids had nicknames, which I occasionally still use, even though they've kids of their own. Starting from oldest to youngest~~Ace/Coricimus, Scooter/Scoots/Scooterdoots, Muffin Man/Muff/Mufferduff, Whammer man/Wham, and Paigeepoo/Dudette.
Funny as I reflect, We all called my mom, Nanny, until her death and even now, we refer to her as Nanny. Guess grandma's go down in history......
I didn't know my paternal grandfather since he died when my dad was young. But my grandmother was called MawMaw. My mom's dad was simply called Grandpa and her mother was Lil Mom because, well, she was short (barely 5 foot and my Grandpa was well over 6 foot). :-D
That's funny Cheryl, my Mum whose name was Ivy, was barely 5 feet tall, and though the Grandkids called her Nanny, we kids (it started with my brother) often called her Li'l Ivy as an endearment.
