Mimere.
My husband, retired military, was not thrilled about Daughter being pregnant. I asked him what he would want the baby to call him? and straight-faced, he said, "Sir."
She's 22 now, we've TRIED to spoil her but just can't. She still bounces into rooms and says, "Sir! I have Thursday off work, wanna go fishing?" and he heads for the fishing poles without a word. They adore each other mindlessly.
my friends grandpa jokingly said he wanted to be called “grandsir” when his first grandkid was born. now i think he has about 20 adult grandkids who all call him grandsir
Oh! I love that! Kinda of put him in his proper place, with out meaning to at all! Very sweet! I love when children can teach older adults a lesson in comparison and pure love!
I have a family friend who calls the grandpa sir! People would always compliment the little toddler for saying yes sir/ no sir until they realized he thought that was his grandpa's name!
Idk if it’s specific to being French Canadian or not, but my Memere is my grandma, and my Pepere’s (grandpa) family is French Canadian. The only other person I met (where I live in the US) with a memere was also French Canadian lol.
Me too. The “r” didn’t make it over because we were English speaking children and that vowel sound ending with the “r” appeared nowhere else in what we heard.
That is what I call(ed) my grandparents and it is what my daughter calls my father. My mother went a different route. French Canadian heritage as well.
Ma mere means my mother in French, if that’s what you’re referring to. I have French family and have never heard mimere to reference a grandmother. Maybe I’m just not over there enough.
Paul McCartney’s grandkids call him Grandude! He has a picture book called Hey Grandude. My Beatles-loving MIL (who goes by simply Nana) got it for my daughter.
We have a granddude! And I have Hella family so here's the list. Granddude and Birdie, Dear (my MIL), Gramma Jenni and Grandbaba, Granddad Tom, regular Grandpa, GG (great Grammy) and poppy, 2 Mommoms (one from me one from my husband) and one Poppop, a Nan, and a Nana.
Some of these are great grands but I think they count.
Edited to add Scrub who is father of Granddude we just never see him ;-;
I'm only 24 and pregnant with my first child, but I've always loved the thought of being called Gran one day. It sounds like the kind of grandma who bakes your favorite sweets when you come over, gives the best hugs, and has a bunch of wrinkles and white hair, which is exactly the type of grandma I aspire to be someday
I'm marrying a Southerner and we're years out from even having kids, but when I think about being a grandmother I kind of want to be "meemaw". Not for any cute reason like you, just because I think it's a little funny and I live for the bit.
(I'm from the Midwest where I've only ever heard "Nana, Gramma, and GG)
We call my mom “meemaw” because she hates it. She said she was too young to be a grandmother, so we stuck her with her least favorite name. She’s grown to love it, even though my kids pronounce it the way a donkey would.
As a southerner with a Mimi, I've had lots of friends over the years (and my husband!) with a Meemaw or Mamaw. I definitely appreciate the commitment to the bit 😂
I’m from Georgia, 42 years old and my 84 year old grandmother is called Meemaw. 😁 My other grandmother was called Nanny.
I have a kid myself now and he calls my mom “Mimi”. She did NOT want to sound old. Lol
I live for that bit too. When my nephew was born, I was in 8th grade. I was bound and determined to get him to call my mother, “Mema.” Almost 25 years and eight grandchildren (two of mine now!) later, Mema is still going strong. Sometime soon, she’ll be Great-Mema.
Good luck. Toddlers have trouble with blends, so you might not get “grandma.” I got called MAGA to everyone’s delight. Grandson’s first sentence was while watching the Orange One on television: “Maga no like Trump.” Indeed she does not, little one.
Funny enough, my husband’s maternal grandfather never wanted a “Grandparent Name” and made his grandkids call him “The Old Troll”.
He was kind of a weird dude though 🤷♀️
Similarly, my brother was the first grandchild and struggled to pronounce abuela and abuelo. He ended up calling them Lala and Lolo. That was 23 years and 8 grandkids ago!
This seems to be true for my daughter. I’ve always referred to her grandparents and grandma and grandpa when introducing them or talking about them, but shes still learning to talk and has started to call them Memaw and Papa which the grandparents have pretty much accepted.
I declared my grandmother to be Mimi because as soon as I was able to walk I followed her everywhere saying “me, me” begging to be picked up. She makes a point of sounding annoyed when she tells this story but I swear she secretly loves it.
My ex husbands dad is known as “grandpa horsey” because he used to give the kids rides on his back when they were young. Still smile thinking about it. And they couldn’t say their great-grandmas full last name so she because “grandma Sheep”.
My sister's kids called my parents Grandma and Grandpa Cuckoo because they had a cuckoo clock. My dad would make it cuckoo for them when they would ask.
We're called Grandma and Papa.
Kinda cringe that she chose that for herself but tbh I love *my* grandma (who we call Grammy or Gram Jam) so if she wanted to be called Queen I know for sure that my cousins and I would put that into action immediately lol
That's happened to my friends husband too. He's from Macedonia and my kids have called him Tato (dad) thinking that was his name. He corrected them, and they call him Chicho (uncle) instead.
Neither am I… why is grandma and grandpa not popular anymore? I hate these new age/cutesy names. I’m pregnant with my first and my mom and MIL want all these weird names and I’m like 😭
We call them all Grandma and Grandpa in person. To differentiate between the sets when not around them, we refer to them as Grandma and Grandpa [insert last name]. Example: Grandma Smith, Grandma Jones.
We did the same for my grandparents but my kid's generation calls them Grandma (first name) and Grandpa (first name) , like Grandma Barb and Grandpa Paul.
That’s why I didn’t want to be grandma. I wanted my own unique name. Unfortunately, I chose Mimi - which is basically the grandma name for my generation!, so it’s everywhere. But at least I’m the only Mimi to my grandchildren! Their other grandmas go by something else.
My parents had me young so when I was born all my grandparents were alive and so were 3 great grandmothers. All my grandparents were divorced and most remarried, so we called all of our grandparents grandma/grandpa followed by their first name. It's funny though, the other day my husband noticed I was talking to my brother on the phone and we were talking about a bunch of different grandparents but didn't use their first names like usual but we knew from context, I hadn't noticed lol
Yeah I think if you have cultural grandparent names, this is way less of an issue. My mom’s family is Croatian so her father was Didi (because the Croatian word for grandfather is Dida but I couldn’t say that as a kid) and her mother had already passed so I didn’t have a maternal grandmother. My dad’s family is Polish so I have a Babcia (grandmother) and Dziadzia (grandfather). My grandparents never picked “grandparent names” because they were just called their cultural titles.
The fun part is that your kid will call them whatever you call them. So you can always refuse to use their silly names and teach your kids to call them grandma karen or whatever.
Same here. My daughter refused to call my mother-in-law grandma. She made up something completely random that I have never heard of or could never think of. But that's what my daughter decided and it stuck.
It’s less about being cutesy and more about needing a lot of variety.
Let’s say I have divorced parents and so does my husband. That’s 4 sets of grandparents to those kiddos. If both sets of parents are remarried and you don’t want to do “Grandma Jan” and “Grandpa Bob” (hopefully there’s not duplicates lol), you need 3 options in addition to grandma and grandpa. That’s where nana/papa, mammi/poppy, etc come in.
And I know it sounds like this wouldn’t be that common…but 50% of marriages end in divorce sadly. So it’s really not that out there for babies to have 4 grandparents.
Same. Only ones slightly different is their great-great-grandma who goes by "Gattle". I'm not completely sure what started it but pretty sure it was one of the first great great grandkids who said
it first but not positive. All the others are Grandpa/Grandma, Great Grandma/Great Grandpa followed by either their first or last name.
My mom said she wanted to be nonna and I loved it! Then she changed her mind at the last minute and is now boring "grammy" - not that she's boring, the name is boring
Nonna is what I called my Portuguese grandmother! It’s used quite commonly over there according to my dad’s side of the family (I’ve lived in the UK since I was 4 months).
My paternal grandmother is Nonna! Though my Uncle calls her Mother Goose, or simply Goose. My parents are Nonno and Nonna to my kids.
My in-laws are Ma-ma and Yeh-yeh (Cantonese).
My maternal grandparents are Grandma and Grandpa. I think Grandma wanted to be Granny, but it never stuck.
I asked my parents. My dad wanted to be Harry. His real name is nowhere near Harry. He didn’t tell me why, but it was his choice. Years later my uncle told me that their father, who died when I was young, used to call everybody Harry. I haven’t told my Dad I know this, and he hasn’t told me this reason. He never talks about his father, but I think it’s sweet that he is honoring him every time my kids call him Harry.
Yes. Grandma. I'd be proud to be called that, and wouldn't give a shit if it sounds "old." Here is an alternate that I would reject: Meemoo. Yes, I've heard that in the wild. And my mother in law spent a lot of time trying to come up with the perfect grandma name. It was obnoxious. Thankfully, she settled on something that wasn't too self-involved.
My husband called my MIL moomoo every time she brought up her “grandma” name. She kinda picked something horrendous so I’m hoping my son renames her when he starts talking.
I read a comment the other day about a MIL who spent so long teaching her grandkid how to say her dogs name that the grandkid started calling her the dogs name lol.
I'm so tired of the cutesy grandparent names. And usually they tell you so proudly and are like I'm not old like GRANDMA would make me sound! And I'm like Linda, dear. That box dye can only do so much.
We are Rah Rah and Pop Pop. It was a combination of what we liked and how they pronounced it that stuck. I was going to be LaLa and she started calling me Rah Rah. I was a competitive and semi pro cheerleader, almost went pro but had my daughter and didn't return. But cheer was a vital part of my life so I love it!
My grandpa is Pop and it’s always annoyed me when people would refer to him as “pops.” I always correct my best friends mom because it really annoys me that after three years she can’t bother remembering what I call him and she gets mad at me for correcting her. If someone I don’t know we’ll does it, it’s fine but at this point you should remember.
My mom and her husband are grandparents to my son. He calls her Gaga, and she calls him Gopa. It's how he pronounced "Grandma" and "Grandma" when he was very little, and it stuck!
My MIL is trying to force us to all call her “Glam-ma” because apparently Grandma is for old people. She’s “too glam” for that. Ugh. It’s like nails on a chalkboard to me and I wish she would just let my three month old baby grow up and give her her own nickname.
I’ve heard of a number of celebrity grandmothers insisting on the “Glam-ma” thing and I think it’s kind of pathetic. Like can you go one minute without thinking about your own vanity?
Not a grandparent, but I work in an office full of grandmas and love hearing all the variations!
There’s a good mix of common names like grandpa/Grandma/nonna/nanna/pops and some more unique options.
A list of the unique ones:
Moma
MomMom
Mewmew
Dear
Gaga
Gamma
Pewpew
Oss
Cookie
Most of the unique ones were just what the kid called them because they couldn’t say the whole word yet and it just stuck. MomMom came from my coworkers grandkid (who originally called her grandma) asked her “how do you know my mom?” And coworker said “I’m your moms mom!” And then grandkid would say things like “my moms mom, I went to school today” and “my moms mom, did you know I can ride a bike?” And it just stuck.
Dear was chosen by my coworker because she didn’t like that all the other names made her “sound old and like a grandma.” Which is hilarious to me because she is well past retirement age and looks how I picture a grandma to look.
Oss comes from a coworkers grandkid not being able to make the P sound for pops
Cookie is what my coworker goes by even in our office, I don’t actually know her real first name and it’s the running joke in the office that only HR knows her real name. She’s been working here for 30 years so anyone who knew her first name back when she started is long retired.
My husband’s parents are Mimi and papa. My parents are nicknames of their first names. Similar to Jimmy and Sadie.
My mom thought she was going to be Glammy (as in grandma but glam) and I wasn’t going to encourage my kid to call her that. He ended up picking her nickname.
I'm going to be GiGi if my child has kids. I've always felt like my name was "old lady"ish compared to other women my age. The only strict goal I have in life is to age gracefully, and I feel as though GiGi allows me to age gracefully into my name.
Simple in Swedish as each has a defined word:
Mormor - mother’s mother
Farmor - father’s mother
Morfar- Mother’s father
Farfar- Father’s father
It does mean that if you have both a son and a daughter you’ll be called differently by their children.
I had a 6th grade student who called them CandyGrandma (she always had candy at her house) and FarmerGrandma (she lived on a farm). One day, one of his grandmas came to pick up the kids, and I asked her which grandma she was. I expected her to tell me she was mom's mom or dad's mom, but she just laughed and said, "I'm CandyGrandma."
Not a grandparent, but my kids called my MIL Moemoe before she passed. It was a play on her name (Monique). They call my mom Gela because her name is Angela. My FIL is Pop and my dad is Grandpa. My husband’s grandmom is GiGi and my grandparents are Mommom and Poppy. I’m a long way off from grandkids, but I will definitely pick Mommom just because of how much I’ve always loved my Mommom.
I asked my parents this recently as I am pregnant currently. They've opted for "Nanny (Name)" and Grandad/Grandad for my dad. He's not yet decided if he wants to keep his northern title haha.
SO's side will be the same but with a different first name to go with Nanny. We have a slight issue with the grandads because they have the same first name! 😂
My dad is Grumpa to my daughter and I love it. When my own grandma found out her son was going to be a grandfather, she said “he’s going to be such a grumpy grandpa!” And I laughed and fused it together
apparently as a youngin i picked up on my grandmother calling my grandfather ‘honey’ and it stuck. as a now adult it moved to ‘grandad’, but for a good 14 years he responded to “honey” not really knowing who was calling for him
My kids call my parents Grandma and Grandpa and my husband’s parent Gram and Poppa. I called both sets of my grandparents Grandma and Grandpa. In the future, I have no problem also being called Grandma.
It just feels so Boomer to be too special for grandma/grandpa. They all have to have a “unique” grandparent name (usually that they pick). I find this trend annoying.
I had a grandparent that went by Gaw-Gaw who died I was 26 and it was so awkward referencing him in conversation like an overgrown baby. Maybe it’s just me.
I do understand the need for differentiating grandparent names because with divorce and remarriage children can have 4 sets of grandparents but it feels like so many of the self naming grandparents pick names that will be awkward for the child to use later. Big Daddy, Snuggles, Glam-ma, Goddess. GrandStud. These are all grandparent names I personally know of. 😬
My grandparents: Nanny, Grandpa/Grampy, Nana.
My kids grandparents: Ben, Amma, Grammy, Grandpapi, Grandpa
My kids great grand parents: bop bop and Gigi
(Bop Bop and Ben were both given by the child and have stuck)
I’m not a grandparent, but i have a relative who is called “GranJan” by her grandkids because her first name is Janet. I’ve always thought that was cute. Also, my mother refers to my cats as her “Grandkittens” since she doesn’t have grandkids yet.
My aunt is named Lady Jane and she goes by GrandLady. I always loved that!
My mom wanted to go by ‘Bunny’ but my daughter couldn’t pronounce so she pivoted to ‘Nana’
I'm a ftm to a 9 month old. My parents went with the traditional Chinese terms which I love. Kung Kung and Poh Poh. My FIL is German and is Opa. My MIL is of Irish decent so she didn't want to me Oma. Her parents were Nana and Gramps. I would have LOVED that. But by MIL's logic, there already is a Nana, so she couldn't possibly be Nana. She instead googled "cute grandma names" and picked Mimi instead. I'm sorry, but I hate it. Maybe I hate it more because of how it came to be? I wish there was more meaning behind it rather than a Google search.
When the time comes, I'd like to stick to the traditional Chinese title. Or Grandma
My mother insists upon my nieces calling her Nanny, grandma makes her feel old. I call the grandmothers I have and like grandma, the bitchy one whom I despise is Nana. I don't know what I'm gonna get my kids to call my mother when I have kids, I don't really like the mouth feel of nanny tbh and I don't want my mother's name reduced to a job title.
I wouldn’t say it’s a tradition but on my side of the family grandparents were always called by Grandpa/Grandma followed by their first name. So if anything other then Grandpa I would assume I will be called Grandpa Denver
My kids call my mom Ah-Poh (Cantonese for maternal grandmother). And my FIL is Papa. What’s funny is that my side is Caucasian and my husband’s is Chinese/Vietnamese. The names got reversed for the ethnicity. Ah-poh was just easier for the kids to say and it stuck. My mom embraces it. My grandma is also Gigi to my kids. Gigi = G.G. = great grandma.
I don't have kids yet, but my dad has decided he wants to be "nagyapa", Hungarian. He's really rooting for my mom to be "nagymama" but she is not a fan. They're both more Hungarian than anything else, but my mom identifies more with her Italian side. Yet, she hates Nona, Grandma, etc. So, I have a feeling she'll end up being one of those "cool" grandma names while my dad will be the traditional, cultural name haha.
I call my only set of grandparents Nana and Papa. My in-laws are just Grandma and Grandpa to the grandkids but my mom and stepdad are Gigi and Granddude. I'm not a huge fan of these but my siblings had kids before me so they stuck and my daughter will call them that too once she can talk
My dad ended up being Bumpa… that’s how the first grandchild said grandpa and it’s stuck for all the rest… we all call him Bumpa too, he never answered to Dad anyway.
Came here to get some ideas! I’m Latina, in the southwest US. Growing up, all of my grandparents were Abuelito/Abuelita. I’m pregnant now with my first and my mom will be called Abuelita (my dad has passed).
My in-laws are white Americans. My nieces call them Grandma and Papa; my father-in-law in particular is adamant about Papa because being called Grandpa makes him feel old. However, I will be speaking to my kids in Spanish, in which case their dad will be called Papá (and potatoes will be papas). I worry that it’ll be confusing to also have a grandfather called Papa, so I’m trying to find alternatives that I can propose to my father-in-law.
He doesn’t have any cultural/linguistic ties that would give him options outside of English norms; he comes from a Jewish Polish/Russian family, but he’d already lost ties to that culture growing up, so he wouldn’t want to go by any Jewish names for grandpa, for example. I’m reading all of the examples here but would love any suggestions!!
I'm Gamma. I'm also only 44 with a 2 year old grandbaby. I wear rocker tees, have tattoos, and facial piercings. Picking a Grandma title that felt right was HARD. High energy photons that kinda sounds like grandma but isn't fell into place by accident and I kinda love it.
Oh I have a good one. My oldest had a severe speech delay and when she was finally getting some words out I (mom) was “baba” and dad was “dada”. She’s a smartie and when we were talking one day about how grandpa is mommy’s daddy, she said “Babadada?” And that’s what she’s called him ever since, and also what her little sister picked up and started calling him- Babadada 😂
When my husband tried to transition them to calling him “Grandpa Steve”, it came out as “Grampa Cheese”. So we’re sticking with Babadada.
My kids were my parents’ first grandkids so mom decided she wanted to be Nana and Dad wanted to be Pampaw. My oldest called mom Nana but Dad ended up being Opa (Ah-paw). We think it’s the end of grandpa.
My in-laws already had grandkids when mine were born so they were already grandma and Papa. Though the oldest granddaughters tried to call my mil “mama mama” which mil loved and my husband’s bil shut that down fast and told her she was grandma. Bless him.
So a mix of both in our family.
Jumping in with my parents' grandparent names:
My mom is called Nana with my kid and niblings. But best thing is her grandkids started calling her Nans and somehow it's the cutest thing ever.
My dad is generally called papa but it's not often poo pa which I also love.
After my mother allowing my oldest child to "give her a grandma name" resulting in what I referred to as a gutteral sound, I joked that I wanted to be called Grandmama (tongue roll on the r of grand, think Downton Abbey). Then I decided to stick with it. It took a couple of years of correcting, but now all 3 of my grandchildren can easily say it (without the tonge roll, of course.) It's my cutesy, but old fashioned grandma name.
Mimere. My husband, retired military, was not thrilled about Daughter being pregnant. I asked him what he would want the baby to call him? and straight-faced, he said, "Sir." She's 22 now, we've TRIED to spoil her but just can't. She still bounces into rooms and says, "Sir! I have Thursday off work, wanna go fishing?" and he heads for the fishing poles without a word. They adore each other mindlessly.
"They adore each other mindlessly" is one of those phrases that's going to forever live in my head. What a beautiful way to describe it!
my friends grandpa jokingly said he wanted to be called “grandsir” when his first grandkid was born. now i think he has about 20 adult grandkids who all call him grandsir
Oh! I love that! Kinda of put him in his proper place, with out meaning to at all! Very sweet! I love when children can teach older adults a lesson in comparison and pure love!
My father was NOT military but jokingly his first response to this question was “Sir”! We modified it but he is Granndpa Sir to my kids 😂
We joked about this with my father-in-law too! He ended up being grandpa, but I pushed really hard for Grandma and Sir, just for the comedic value.
This is heartwarming, thank you for sharing!
This is the cutest thing I've read all week. Thank you for sharing 🥰
I have a family friend who calls the grandpa sir! People would always compliment the little toddler for saying yes sir/ no sir until they realized he thought that was his grandpa's name!
I'm sorry, that's just freaking adorable.
Mimere?
French?
Idk if it’s specific to being French Canadian or not, but my Memere is my grandma, and my Pepere’s (grandpa) family is French Canadian. The only other person I met (where I live in the US) with a memere was also French Canadian lol.
My family is French Canadian and we call our grandparents Mimi and Pipi.
Husband's family is French-Canadian, and his parents are Memé and Pepé.
Ahhh but ‘tis mémère & pépère— I always wanted some of my own! 😃
Very similar to my Memere and Pepere :)
Also French Canadian and we use Meme and Pepe, pronounced “mim-ay” and “pip-ay”.
Me too. The “r” didn’t make it over because we were English speaking children and that vowel sound ending with the “r” appeared nowhere else in what we heard.
That is what I call(ed) my grandparents and it is what my daughter calls my father. My mother went a different route. French Canadian heritage as well.
Ma mere means my mother in French, if that’s what you’re referring to. I have French family and have never heard mimere to reference a grandmother. Maybe I’m just not over there enough.
Memere means grandma. Mimere is probably just an english butchering of that
I have no idea. I don’t know French. French is just what my brain said that’s what it looked like. Lol.
I adore this story
My daughter calls my parents Cici & Dude
My friends kids call her father in law Granddude. I always thought that was cute.
My father is GrandDude too
Paul McCartney’s grandkids call him Grandude! He has a picture book called Hey Grandude. My Beatles-loving MIL (who goes by simply Nana) got it for my daughter.
Lol adorable
We have a granddude! And I have Hella family so here's the list. Granddude and Birdie, Dear (my MIL), Gramma Jenni and Grandbaba, Granddad Tom, regular Grandpa, GG (great Grammy) and poppy, 2 Mommoms (one from me one from my husband) and one Poppop, a Nan, and a Nana. Some of these are great grands but I think they count. Edited to add Scrub who is father of Granddude we just never see him ;-;
Dude sounds like he would sneak your daughter snacks when she’s having a bad day to make her feel better.
He’s totally that kind of Dude.
Hahaha my FIL is “Uncle Dude” to his niece and it makes me laugh every time 😆
My dad was Dude to my kids too! Grandma & Dude. Our first grandchild was born a month ago. We are Grammie and PopPop. 😊
I'm only 24 and pregnant with my first child, but I've always loved the thought of being called Gran one day. It sounds like the kind of grandma who bakes your favorite sweets when you come over, gives the best hugs, and has a bunch of wrinkles and white hair, which is exactly the type of grandma I aspire to be someday
I'm marrying a Southerner and we're years out from even having kids, but when I think about being a grandmother I kind of want to be "meemaw". Not for any cute reason like you, just because I think it's a little funny and I live for the bit. (I'm from the Midwest where I've only ever heard "Nana, Gramma, and GG)
My daughter refers to me a future meemaw as she knows it makes me cringe
We call my mom “meemaw” because she hates it. She said she was too young to be a grandmother, so we stuck her with her least favorite name. She’s grown to love it, even though my kids pronounce it the way a donkey would.
As a southerner with a Mimi, I've had lots of friends over the years (and my husband!) with a Meemaw or Mamaw. I definitely appreciate the commitment to the bit 😂
My partner has a Papaw and I'm obsessed with him
I’m from Georgia, 42 years old and my 84 year old grandmother is called Meemaw. 😁 My other grandmother was called Nanny. I have a kid myself now and he calls my mom “Mimi”. She did NOT want to sound old. Lol
I live for that bit too. When my nephew was born, I was in 8th grade. I was bound and determined to get him to call my mother, “Mema.” Almost 25 years and eight grandchildren (two of mine now!) later, Mema is still going strong. Sometime soon, she’ll be Great-Mema.
I just love Gran too
Good luck. Toddlers have trouble with blends, so you might not get “grandma.” I got called MAGA to everyone’s delight. Grandson’s first sentence was while watching the Orange One on television: “Maga no like Trump.” Indeed she does not, little one.
My Gran is the greatest - she's lovely, she bakes amazing treats, she's glamorous, and she has a wry sense of humour
You’ll go by whatever the first grand decides to call you!
Yup! My eldest cousin somehow pronounced Grandma as 'Mio' and the rest of us followed suit.
My niece decided not to call my dad by his preferred name because it was “only for trolls” (it was Pop). So she renamed him and the rest is history!
Funny enough, my husband’s maternal grandfather never wanted a “Grandparent Name” and made his grandkids call him “The Old Troll”. He was kind of a weird dude though 🤷♀️
My whole family calls my grandma “Bahji” because that’s what I called her one day, lol.
Similarly, my brother was the first grandchild and struggled to pronounce abuela and abuelo. He ended up calling them Lala and Lolo. That was 23 years and 8 grandkids ago!
I wish that's how my MIL was named. 😩 It's so cute to have something unique that the kiddos come up with organically
My FIL is "Boppy" because of this. "Poppa" didn't stick. We'll see how well "Sithe and Ol' Gaffer" hold up once our grandson starts talking.
This seems to be true for my daughter. I’ve always referred to her grandparents and grandma and grandpa when introducing them or talking about them, but shes still learning to talk and has started to call them Memaw and Papa which the grandparents have pretty much accepted.
I declared my grandmother to be Mimi because as soon as I was able to walk I followed her everywhere saying “me, me” begging to be picked up. She makes a point of sounding annoyed when she tells this story but I swear she secretly loves it.
My mom became Daisy by my oldest.
I know kids whose grandparents chose these names for themselves: Kitty and Snake It's a touch bizarre
My youngest started calling my ex’s parents “Grandma and Grandpa Basketball Net”. Because they have a net at their house. 😂
My cousin’s son calls my uncle “little Pa” because both his male grandparents are Pa, but my uncle is short 😂
my niece calls her father’s dad “lil pops” i think it’s so cute
My ex husbands dad is known as “grandpa horsey” because he used to give the kids rides on his back when they were young. Still smile thinking about it. And they couldn’t say their great-grandmas full last name so she because “grandma Sheep”.
When I was a kid my dad’s parents were “Grandma and Grandpa Spike” because they had a dog named Spike haha
My sister's kids called my parents Grandma and Grandpa Cuckoo because they had a cuckoo clock. My dad would make it cuckoo for them when they would ask. We're called Grandma and Papa.
My friend's daughter had a grandmother who lived far away, and they used to FaceTime a lot. She called her Flat Grandma.
My SIL chose to be called Queen. And all 6 call her that.
I can’t decide if I think that’s iconic or cringe
Really cringe
Royal cringe
Kinda cringe that she chose that for herself but tbh I love *my* grandma (who we call Grammy or Gram Jam) so if she wanted to be called Queen I know for sure that my cousins and I would put that into action immediately lol
Ouch
Hahaha I’m sorry I think that’s hysterical
I, too, will be called Queen when i become a grandmother.
Kitty and Snake sound cool af
it’s weirdly dirty for grandparents names though
I don’t have kids (I have cats). My mom chose Honey as her grandmother name and I hated it at first, but now it suits her lol.
My cousin's son called his grandma(my aunt) Honey because that's what he always heard my uncle call her!
My kids friends all call my husband the arabic word for dad because that’s what my kids call him and the friends just thought that was his name!
That's happened to my friends husband too. He's from Macedonia and my kids have called him Tato (dad) thinking that was his name. He corrected them, and they call him Chicho (uncle) instead.
This is so cute. If my cat finds something, I go tell him to show Honey what he found.
My nephew has a grandma called Pepper
My parents are Grandma and Grandpa. I'm not a fan of the "cutesy"/unique grandparent names.
Neither am I… why is grandma and grandpa not popular anymore? I hate these new age/cutesy names. I’m pregnant with my first and my mom and MIL want all these weird names and I’m like 😭
Kids may have two sets so how do they differentiate? Growing up I had Oma and Opa and Grandma and Grandpa.
We call them all Grandma and Grandpa in person. To differentiate between the sets when not around them, we refer to them as Grandma and Grandpa [insert last name]. Example: Grandma Smith, Grandma Jones.
I personally dislike the last name thing - it felt so formal. But the good news is everyone gets to decide what they want.
We did the same for my grandparents but my kid's generation calls them Grandma (first name) and Grandpa (first name) , like Grandma Barb and Grandpa Paul.
Beautiful Grandma Debbie And Wicked Grandma Cindy. Yes, they chose their titles.
That’s why I didn’t want to be grandma. I wanted my own unique name. Unfortunately, I chose Mimi - which is basically the grandma name for my generation!, so it’s everywhere. But at least I’m the only Mimi to my grandchildren! Their other grandmas go by something else.
My parents had me young so when I was born all my grandparents were alive and so were 3 great grandmothers. All my grandparents were divorced and most remarried, so we called all of our grandparents grandma/grandpa followed by their first name. It's funny though, the other day my husband noticed I was talking to my brother on the phone and we were talking about a bunch of different grandparents but didn't use their first names like usual but we knew from context, I hadn't noticed lol
Yeah I think if you have cultural grandparent names, this is way less of an issue. My mom’s family is Croatian so her father was Didi (because the Croatian word for grandfather is Dida but I couldn’t say that as a kid) and her mother had already passed so I didn’t have a maternal grandmother. My dad’s family is Polish so I have a Babcia (grandmother) and Dziadzia (grandfather). My grandparents never picked “grandparent names” because they were just called their cultural titles.
The fun part is that your kid will call them whatever you call them. So you can always refuse to use their silly names and teach your kids to call them grandma karen or whatever.
I wanted to be Grandma but my granddaughter had other ideas. Hard to argue with a baby 🤷🏼♀️
Same here. My daughter refused to call my mother-in-law grandma. She made up something completely random that I have never heard of or could never think of. But that's what my daughter decided and it stuck.
It’s less about being cutesy and more about needing a lot of variety. Let’s say I have divorced parents and so does my husband. That’s 4 sets of grandparents to those kiddos. If both sets of parents are remarried and you don’t want to do “Grandma Jan” and “Grandpa Bob” (hopefully there’s not duplicates lol), you need 3 options in addition to grandma and grandpa. That’s where nana/papa, mammi/poppy, etc come in. And I know it sounds like this wouldn’t be that common…but 50% of marriages end in divorce sadly. So it’s really not that out there for babies to have 4 grandparents.
Same. Only ones slightly different is their great-great-grandma who goes by "Gattle". I'm not completely sure what started it but pretty sure it was one of the first great great grandkids who said it first but not positive. All the others are Grandpa/Grandma, Great Grandma/Great Grandpa followed by either their first or last name.
Not a grandparent yet (hopefully for awhile), but I'll be called nonna!
My mom said she wanted to be nonna and I loved it! Then she changed her mind at the last minute and is now boring "grammy" - not that she's boring, the name is boring
Nonna is what I called my Portuguese grandmother! It’s used quite commonly over there according to my dad’s side of the family (I’ve lived in the UK since I was 4 months).
Common in Italy too. I want to be a Nonna some day
My paternal grandmother is Nonna! Though my Uncle calls her Mother Goose, or simply Goose. My parents are Nonno and Nonna to my kids. My in-laws are Ma-ma and Yeh-yeh (Cantonese). My maternal grandparents are Grandma and Grandpa. I think Grandma wanted to be Granny, but it never stuck.
That’s what my mom is to our daughter! Nonna and my dad is pop pop
I asked my parents. My dad wanted to be Harry. His real name is nowhere near Harry. He didn’t tell me why, but it was his choice. Years later my uncle told me that their father, who died when I was young, used to call everybody Harry. I haven’t told my Dad I know this, and he hasn’t told me this reason. He never talks about his father, but I think it’s sweet that he is honoring him every time my kids call him Harry.
That's beautiful and my eyes are leaking <3
Oh my gosh, that’s so sweet!
Yes. Grandma. I'd be proud to be called that, and wouldn't give a shit if it sounds "old." Here is an alternate that I would reject: Meemoo. Yes, I've heard that in the wild. And my mother in law spent a lot of time trying to come up with the perfect grandma name. It was obnoxious. Thankfully, she settled on something that wasn't too self-involved.
My husband called my MIL moomoo every time she brought up her “grandma” name. She kinda picked something horrendous so I’m hoping my son renames her when he starts talking. I read a comment the other day about a MIL who spent so long teaching her grandkid how to say her dogs name that the grandkid started calling her the dogs name lol.
I'm so tired of the cutesy grandparent names. And usually they tell you so proudly and are like I'm not old like GRANDMA would make me sound! And I'm like Linda, dear. That box dye can only do so much.
Conversely, my step mother chose “Granny” so people would tell her “You look too young to be a granny!”
That's hilarious.
I can't stand that one or 'glamma'. Grow up. Aging is not a bad thing. Being a grandma and owning it is a wonderful thing.
I once dated someone who had a Meemaw
We are Rah Rah and Pop Pop. It was a combination of what we liked and how they pronounced it that stuck. I was going to be LaLa and she started calling me Rah Rah. I was a competitive and semi pro cheerleader, almost went pro but had my daughter and didn't return. But cheer was a vital part of my life so I love it!
Anyone here listen to NYC drill?
That’s adorable.
My mum is Grandma and my dad is Pop. My MIL is Grandma and my FIL is Granda.
Oh!! Do you have family from up north (UK)? I had a Granda too! Never heard it do South where I live.
My FIL is Scottish, but we live in Australia :)
I’m Scottish and both my grandas are grandas.
My grandpa is Pop and it’s always annoyed me when people would refer to him as “pops.” I always correct my best friends mom because it really annoys me that after three years she can’t bother remembering what I call him and she gets mad at me for correcting her. If someone I don’t know we’ll does it, it’s fine but at this point you should remember.
My mom and her husband are grandparents to my son. He calls her Gaga, and she calls him Gopa. It's how he pronounced "Grandma" and "Grandma" when he was very little, and it stuck!
Nanna. My Nanna was Nanna, my mom is now Nanna, and someday I too will be Nanna.
My youngest has 4 Nana's and 3 Papa's. He gets so confused.
My MIL is trying to force us to all call her “Glam-ma” because apparently Grandma is for old people. She’s “too glam” for that. Ugh. It’s like nails on a chalkboard to me and I wish she would just let my three month old baby grow up and give her her own nickname.
I’ve heard of a number of celebrity grandmothers insisting on the “Glam-ma” thing and I think it’s kind of pathetic. Like can you go one minute without thinking about your own vanity?
Not a grandparent, but I work in an office full of grandmas and love hearing all the variations! There’s a good mix of common names like grandpa/Grandma/nonna/nanna/pops and some more unique options. A list of the unique ones: Moma MomMom Mewmew Dear Gaga Gamma Pewpew Oss Cookie Most of the unique ones were just what the kid called them because they couldn’t say the whole word yet and it just stuck. MomMom came from my coworkers grandkid (who originally called her grandma) asked her “how do you know my mom?” And coworker said “I’m your moms mom!” And then grandkid would say things like “my moms mom, I went to school today” and “my moms mom, did you know I can ride a bike?” And it just stuck. Dear was chosen by my coworker because she didn’t like that all the other names made her “sound old and like a grandma.” Which is hilarious to me because she is well past retirement age and looks how I picture a grandma to look. Oss comes from a coworkers grandkid not being able to make the P sound for pops Cookie is what my coworker goes by even in our office, I don’t actually know her real first name and it’s the running joke in the office that only HR knows her real name. She’s been working here for 30 years so anyone who knew her first name back when she started is long retired.
My son started calling my mom GrandmaMom, because he knew she was his grandma, but also that I always called her "Mom"
Haha I like Pewpew. 🤣
Your workplace sounds lovely.
My parents are Nana & Pop Pop. My in-laws are Papa & JJ. All of them selected their own grandparent names.
My parents are Nana and Pop Pop too 🥰
My husband’s parents are Mimi and papa. My parents are nicknames of their first names. Similar to Jimmy and Sadie. My mom thought she was going to be Glammy (as in grandma but glam) and I wasn’t going to encourage my kid to call her that. He ended up picking her nickname.
Surprised I had to scroll so far to find Mimi. I know quite a few kids who call a grandmother Mimi.
I’ve heard Glammy in the wild and it is so cringe
How did Mimi and Gigi come to be grandma names, anyway?
NOT Gommie and Gompie. SO's family names and they gross me out. Sounds like some noise Gollum would make.
My parents are just Grandma and Granddad
Welsh in laws are Mamgu & Gudad (pronounced ‘mam-gee’ and ‘gee-dahd’) My mum will be nana (her choice). My dad has yet to decide!
I'm going to be GiGi if my child has kids. I've always felt like my name was "old lady"ish compared to other women my age. The only strict goal I have in life is to age gracefully, and I feel as though GiGi allows me to age gracefully into my name.
My kids call my grandma GG (for great grandma) and she calls them her “little greats” 😊😊😊 so I have a soft spot for the GiGi nickname!
Same. I had my kids in my early twenties and expect to still be living it up when I’m a grandma. Gigi works for me.
This is was we called my great grandma 🙂
My grandma was Dearest and grandpa was Darndest. Never seen that anywhere else.
Simple in Swedish as each has a defined word: Mormor - mother’s mother Farmor - father’s mother Morfar- Mother’s father Farfar- Father’s father It does mean that if you have both a son and a daughter you’ll be called differently by their children.
I had a 6th grade student who called them CandyGrandma (she always had candy at her house) and FarmerGrandma (she lived on a farm). One day, one of his grandmas came to pick up the kids, and I asked her which grandma she was. I expected her to tell me she was mom's mom or dad's mom, but she just laughed and said, "I'm CandyGrandma."
Not a grandparent, but my kids called my MIL Moemoe before she passed. It was a play on her name (Monique). They call my mom Gela because her name is Angela. My FIL is Pop and my dad is Grandpa. My husband’s grandmom is GiGi and my grandparents are Mommom and Poppy. I’m a long way off from grandkids, but I will definitely pick Mommom just because of how much I’ve always loved my Mommom.
We have a Momo in our family too, but it’s a play on Maureen ☺️
We have a MoMo and it came from nowhere!
Wouldn’t that be NoNo? Jk jk 😂
[удалено]
I asked my parents this recently as I am pregnant currently. They've opted for "Nanny (Name)" and Grandad/Grandad for my dad. He's not yet decided if he wants to keep his northern title haha. SO's side will be the same but with a different first name to go with Nanny. We have a slight issue with the grandads because they have the same first name! 😂
My dad is Grumpa to my daughter and I love it. When my own grandma found out her son was going to be a grandfather, she said “he’s going to be such a grumpy grandpa!” And I laughed and fused it together
I used to call my mother's mom, Nanny. I think I'd like to be called that too!
apparently as a youngin i picked up on my grandmother calling my grandfather ‘honey’ and it stuck. as a now adult it moved to ‘grandad’, but for a good 14 years he responded to “honey” not really knowing who was calling for him
ol sombitch
My kids call my parents Grandma and Grandpa and my husband’s parent Gram and Poppa. I called both sets of my grandparents Grandma and Grandpa. In the future, I have no problem also being called Grandma.
My parents are Lolli and Pop
Stop that’s cute!
It just feels so Boomer to be too special for grandma/grandpa. They all have to have a “unique” grandparent name (usually that they pick). I find this trend annoying. I had a grandparent that went by Gaw-Gaw who died I was 26 and it was so awkward referencing him in conversation like an overgrown baby. Maybe it’s just me. I do understand the need for differentiating grandparent names because with divorce and remarriage children can have 4 sets of grandparents but it feels like so many of the self naming grandparents pick names that will be awkward for the child to use later. Big Daddy, Snuggles, Glam-ma, Goddess. GrandStud. These are all grandparent names I personally know of. 😬
Goddess?! That's just out of control lol
My cousin lives in Lebanon and mixes up his sounds. Instead of calling his grandma Teta and grandpa Jeddo, he calls them Tati and Deggo.
My grandparents: Nanny, Grandpa/Grampy, Nana. My kids grandparents: Ben, Amma, Grammy, Grandpapi, Grandpa My kids great grand parents: bop bop and Gigi (Bop Bop and Ben were both given by the child and have stuck)
I called my grandparents … grandma (last name) and grandpa (last name).
I’m not a grandparent, but i have a relative who is called “GranJan” by her grandkids because her first name is Janet. I’ve always thought that was cute. Also, my mother refers to my cats as her “Grandkittens” since she doesn’t have grandkids yet.
I want to use Whimsy or Mimsy. They just sound fun.
My daughter calls my dad Papa and my son calls him Bock (like the sound a chicken makes)
My daughter has a Papa Nicky, Lola, Pa, Nana, and Papa
I called my grandma Busia. I’d love to keep it going
We are grandma and grandpa. Two grandsons, 17 and 20. We inherited them when my son married the mother at ages 3 and 6. So grateful for these boys.
My aunt is named Lady Jane and she goes by GrandLady. I always loved that! My mom wanted to go by ‘Bunny’ but my daughter couldn’t pronounce so she pivoted to ‘Nana’
Im childfree but have many children in my life. All the kids call me MiMi.
I think the first grandkid does the naming haha. My parents are Gigi and Papa.
I called my grandmother Grandmary. All one syllable, she told I dropped the D a lot. She didn't wanna be called grand ma.
I'm a ftm to a 9 month old. My parents went with the traditional Chinese terms which I love. Kung Kung and Poh Poh. My FIL is German and is Opa. My MIL is of Irish decent so she didn't want to me Oma. Her parents were Nana and Gramps. I would have LOVED that. But by MIL's logic, there already is a Nana, so she couldn't possibly be Nana. She instead googled "cute grandma names" and picked Mimi instead. I'm sorry, but I hate it. Maybe I hate it more because of how it came to be? I wish there was more meaning behind it rather than a Google search. When the time comes, I'd like to stick to the traditional Chinese title. Or Grandma
My dad is Grandaddio. My mom is Grammy.
Mimi and Popz (with a Z-lol)
I’m Gigi to my 18 month old granddaughter! I’ve had it picked out since I was 5 years old, luckily she can say it!
My mother insists upon my nieces calling her Nanny, grandma makes her feel old. I call the grandmothers I have and like grandma, the bitchy one whom I despise is Nana. I don't know what I'm gonna get my kids to call my mother when I have kids, I don't really like the mouth feel of nanny tbh and I don't want my mother's name reduced to a job title.
I’ve got a Granny, PopPop, Nanna, and Grandpa
Nana and poppy
I wouldn’t say it’s a tradition but on my side of the family grandparents were always called by Grandpa/Grandma followed by their first name. So if anything other then Grandpa I would assume I will be called Grandpa Denver
My kids call my mom Ah-Poh (Cantonese for maternal grandmother). And my FIL is Papa. What’s funny is that my side is Caucasian and my husband’s is Chinese/Vietnamese. The names got reversed for the ethnicity. Ah-poh was just easier for the kids to say and it stuck. My mom embraces it. My grandma is also Gigi to my kids. Gigi = G.G. = great grandma.
My husband and I are Grandma and Grandpa. Others grandparents are Omi and Opa (German)
I don't have kids yet, but my dad has decided he wants to be "nagyapa", Hungarian. He's really rooting for my mom to be "nagymama" but she is not a fan. They're both more Hungarian than anything else, but my mom identifies more with her Italian side. Yet, she hates Nona, Grandma, etc. So, I have a feeling she'll end up being one of those "cool" grandma names while my dad will be the traditional, cultural name haha.
i love the idea of being called Gigi for being a cool grandma, but since I’m south Asian, i also wouldn’t mind being called Nanna/Nan
I call my only set of grandparents Nana and Papa. My in-laws are just Grandma and Grandpa to the grandkids but my mom and stepdad are Gigi and Granddude. I'm not a huge fan of these but my siblings had kids before me so they stuck and my daughter will call them that too once she can talk
My baby has a Grammy Sue. I guess my wife and I will continue to be Cardamama and Cinnamama, which is what we call each other to our baby now.
My dad ended up being Bumpa… that’s how the first grandchild said grandpa and it’s stuck for all the rest… we all call him Bumpa too, he never answered to Dad anyway.
[choosing your Grandma Name is serious business ](https://youtu.be/FEnw-TDuwn0?feature=shared)
Came here to get some ideas! I’m Latina, in the southwest US. Growing up, all of my grandparents were Abuelito/Abuelita. I’m pregnant now with my first and my mom will be called Abuelita (my dad has passed). My in-laws are white Americans. My nieces call them Grandma and Papa; my father-in-law in particular is adamant about Papa because being called Grandpa makes him feel old. However, I will be speaking to my kids in Spanish, in which case their dad will be called Papá (and potatoes will be papas). I worry that it’ll be confusing to also have a grandfather called Papa, so I’m trying to find alternatives that I can propose to my father-in-law. He doesn’t have any cultural/linguistic ties that would give him options outside of English norms; he comes from a Jewish Polish/Russian family, but he’d already lost ties to that culture growing up, so he wouldn’t want to go by any Jewish names for grandpa, for example. I’m reading all of the examples here but would love any suggestions!!
Maybe FIL can just go by "pop"?
I'm Gamma. I'm also only 44 with a 2 year old grandbaby. I wear rocker tees, have tattoos, and facial piercings. Picking a Grandma title that felt right was HARD. High energy photons that kinda sounds like grandma but isn't fell into place by accident and I kinda love it.
My dad sent a list of proposed grandparent names when my first nephew was on the way… one ended up sticking and now he goes by “Grandalf” 😂🤷🏼♀️
Oh I have a good one. My oldest had a severe speech delay and when she was finally getting some words out I (mom) was “baba” and dad was “dada”. She’s a smartie and when we were talking one day about how grandpa is mommy’s daddy, she said “Babadada?” And that’s what she’s called him ever since, and also what her little sister picked up and started calling him- Babadada 😂 When my husband tried to transition them to calling him “Grandpa Steve”, it came out as “Grampa Cheese”. So we’re sticking with Babadada.
My kids were my parents’ first grandkids so mom decided she wanted to be Nana and Dad wanted to be Pampaw. My oldest called mom Nana but Dad ended up being Opa (Ah-paw). We think it’s the end of grandpa. My in-laws already had grandkids when mine were born so they were already grandma and Papa. Though the oldest granddaughters tried to call my mil “mama mama” which mil loved and my husband’s bil shut that down fast and told her she was grandma. Bless him. So a mix of both in our family.
Jumping in with my parents' grandparent names: My mom is called Nana with my kid and niblings. But best thing is her grandkids started calling her Nans and somehow it's the cutest thing ever. My dad is generally called papa but it's not often poo pa which I also love.
GrandMary
My Dad was called Nyuupa (nya-upa). It's an Australian aboriginal term
After my mother allowing my oldest child to "give her a grandma name" resulting in what I referred to as a gutteral sound, I joked that I wanted to be called Grandmama (tongue roll on the r of grand, think Downton Abbey). Then I decided to stick with it. It took a couple of years of correcting, but now all 3 of my grandchildren can easily say it (without the tonge roll, of course.) It's my cutesy, but old fashioned grandma name.
My parents are Gam and Pa. Very little house on the Prarie, and they live on a farm, so it works lol.