Amen! I find grandparent nicknames supremely annoying. Imagine my horror when my oldest, who was the first grandchild, dubbed my mother ReeRee. It’s her own fault. She wanted to be called Grandma Sherrie. Couldn’t just settle for Grandma. Well, he stopped on the final syllable, doubled it, and that’s what she’s been ever since.
My mother-in-law told us she wanted the kids to call her Grandmother. Sorry, but we aren’t part of an old money family from New York. In the 1920s. When speaking to our kids we just referred to her as Grandma, and that’s what they call her. Grandma.

When did Grandma and Grandpa become so insulting to everyone, anyway? Sheesh!

Grandma and grandpa became ‘insulting’ when our culture got so worried about “age”. When my wife was expecting our first (nearly 14 years ago) who would also be the oldest grandchild of both sets of grandparents, they both went through this a bit. You’ll notice in both sets up stories shared (so far) it is the impending birth of the first grandchild that causes this. The individual is uncomfortable about moving into a new category (grandparent) and is consciously (or unconsciously) trying to avoid it. Even while they may be excited about it as well.

Well… that’s how I see it.

My MIL has been coaching our 3-year-old to call her “Nana” for quite some time now. I’m not really into anything other than the traditional grandma and grandpa. My husband’s maternal grandparents were “Marmie” and “Pop” so I guess his mom thinks she needs a special name, too.

Both of my son’s grandfathers are currently being called “Boppa” but only because my son can’t quite say “grandpa.” Whether or not this name will stick we have yet to see. We do call both grandfathers “grandpa” when talking about them so hopefully he’ll grow into the correct pronunciation.

On a related note… My sister’s kids all call me “Aunt Sa-sa.” My family nickname is “Risa” but my sister’s oldest child couldn’t pronounce “Aunt Risa” when she was little and I became “Sa-sa” (interestingly enough, this was also what she called the character Mufasa from the Lion King!). Eleven years later, I now refer to myself as both “Aunt Ris” and “Aunt Sa-Sa” when I call to talk to my sister and one of her children answer. Weird but at least I came by the nickname honestly!

My MIL wants to go by “Nana” (mother’s mother). Funny thing is that she should be “Nona” (father’s mother) for most of her grandkids, but refuses to do that.

My parents and FIL are just Grandpa/Grandma.

I had 3 sets of grandparents growing up (my mother’s parents divorced and both remarried) as well as 2 sets of neighbors who all went by Grandma and Grandpa “Lastname” with the exception of Grandma Katherine whose last name I never learned until I was an adult.

I don’t think you need anything special to distinguish between grandparents other than either their first names or last names. My sister’s kids did call their grandparents by their dogs’ names for a while but mostly because our maiden name is long and difficult to pronounce for little ones and the dogs’ names are easy (Sarah and Gunner). But now her kids can almost all pronounce our last name so they’ve reverted.

Grandparent nickname syndrome (GNS) cannot just be a desire to differentiate from the ‘other’ grandparents. As has been pointed out, we all name actual names (first and last) that work just fine. I got through life with Grandpa and Grandma Franson; Grandpa and Grandma Cox; Grandma Bill (ironically her deceased husband’s first name); and Grandma Addams with no issues. Add in a whole host of other grands who were dead but still referenced in family conversation and it would be folly to try to give them all a unique nickname (GNS). Particularly when you factor in marriage creative cross generational lines. No special nicknames needed.

I do agree that the most natural path for the creation for nicknames (within the family) is childhood inability to pronounce certain sound. This works on siblings as well. We call my youngest son Wijim since his little sister couldn’t say William (swap the L sound for a J sound) and it has stuck. And the baby is EllaPee instead of Penelope for a similar reason.

But the only reason for a grandparent to – ahead of the birth of their grandchildren – decide and push for their own unique pet nickname (GNS) is that they are reluctant to embrace the concept that they are old enough to have children who are themselves old enough to have children. Avoiding being called ‘grandma’ means you can avoid facing reality for just a little bit longer.

My parents are “Oma” and “Opa” because my daughter couldn’t differentiate between “grandma” and “grandpa” at first. Now she uses Oma/Grandma and Opa/Grandpa interchangeably.

But they aren’t really nicknames, they are just the same words in German which just happened to be easier to pronounce.

i wonder if your friend’s “misha” doesn’t have a russian connection.

my parents are nannie and granddad, which is what everyone has been called (with the variation of nana) all the way back. they’re from ireland and wales. except my oldest couldn’t say granddad and he became “deedah.” he HATES it and offers treats to anyone who calls him granddad, but deedah it is.

my mil is deranged and even though the oldest grandchild (ours) called her grandma, she had a grandkid from a daughter and suddenly wanted to be one of those freaky weird parents who are eager for acceptance from her wackadoo kids. she, an active lds, started hosting alcoholic eggnog contests for the wayward kids and neighbors, allowing keggers at her house, and she suddenly wanted to be called “g.” she said, “it’s because i’m not a grandma… i’m cool and hip and i’m their G!” ooookay. she looks forward to greatgrandkids because “then i can be an o.g., like in the rap songs.”

my kids are the only ones who call her grandma.

For a while my parents were called “Grandma and the boy Grandma” by my daughter. That was pretty amusing, at least to me.

My mom wanted the grandkids to call her Noni (before the juice).

We trained the kids to call her Noni Bologna (Noh-nee bull-oh-nee).

That ended that.

Pisha

Fisha? (fisher)

btw – the other three are just grandma & grandpa

I do agree that the most natural path for the creation for nicknames (within the family) is childhood inability to pronounce certain sound. This works on siblings as well. We call my youngest son Wijim since his little sister couldn’t say William (swap the L sound for a J sound) and it has stuck. And the baby is EllaPee instead of Penelope for a similar reason.

So reinforcing correct pronunciation as they got older was out of the question?

My mom’s parents were Nana and Papa, while my dad’s parents were Grandma and Grandpa. My in-laws just go by Grandma and Grandpa, and my parents go by Nana and Grandpa. We’re a pretty traditional bunch.

Thank u for your share.
Life is like a tea table, with bitter cups placed all over it.

Orwell (26): I bet that guy is suffering inside daily.

Aside: If you were a spammer, wouldn’t you come up with a better platitude than Iv handbags (31)?

Nana, Meemaw, Oma and many other grandparent nicknames are cultural. Do you perchance come from behind the Zion Curtain? Remember thousands of converts went to Utah and an entire culture bent to many of BYs Victorian preferences and nurtured those preferences in isolation. While I agree that making up ones own nickname is an affectation I also find your dogmatic approach to other families’ traditions instrusive. Do you really care what my kids call their grandfather?

My husband called his mom by her name, “Ruth,” and all her grandkids refer to her as Ruth, but call her Gramma to her face. Their Grandpa always said “Howdy Doody” when he walked in the door and he became Doodee to all the grandkids. He was also the k-12 janitor after he retired and everyone in town under 35 or so also began to call him “Doodee.” He was beloved of every child who ever knew him. He died this year and Ruth put “Doodee” on his gravestone, right before beloved husband, father, grandfather, friend, et al. My grandkids call me “Gramma”. They call my husband “Grandpa,” but if a nickname surfaced, I would be OK with it.

I was so delighted to be a Grandma–I love to be called Grandma. Bill’s good with Grandpa. Soemtimes I call him Papa to the grandkids. I didn’t plan it or anything, it just happened that way.

But when Max was little and we had him so much, he started calling me Mama. He was stubborn about it. He wanted me to be his mom and this to be his home. So I sucked it up and had him call me ga-ga. I was trying to emphasize the “g” in grandma. Boy, do I hate that ga-ga, because it’s sort of true that I’m ga-ga, in many ways and I so want to be the serene grandma persona.

Now, my daughter-in-law, Jamie, with whom I’ve come through many a crucible and have learned to value and love, despite my condemnation and criticism, calls me “Grandma Ga-Ga” to distinguish me from “Grandma Neenie” (her foster mother) and “Grandma Julie” (Bill’s ex-wife) and “Grandma Stig” (her adoptive mother who died. “Grandma Ga-Ga”….that describes me….

Whether I come from behind the Zion Curtain is a topic already dealt with extensively here. Let’s not re-open old wounds.

No Tagore I don’t care as much today. You can blame my driving home in ugly traffic for my temporary irascibility. I grew up in a pretty dogmatic LDS home. DH was an adult convert. He opened my eyes to a lot of things. Since it never occurred to me to rebel in adolescence sometimes I overreact now, often over on fMh. I actively try to find the difference between things that matter and things that don’t. What kids call their grandparents doesn’t matter to me. I only care that the “Utah” way not be pronounced the “Church” way.
One of my grandkids said something close to Poompa for a while. It’s baby talk. We laughed. They outgrew it.

When I became a grandma at the ripe old age of 42 I really wasn’t ready for it. I had just had a baby two years earlier, for Pete’s sake. My grandchildren, like others, have tons and tons of grandparents because of divorces and living great-grandparents – and even a great-great grandma, who just turned 100 years old last month.

So I’m Nanna. It has my name in it, and it’s a traditional grandma-name variant. Even though I’m now old enough to be a grandma, I like being Nanna. I post in the DAMU as Nanna P – I like to call it my rap name.

My parents are grandma and grandpa, because that’s what my daughter (the children’s mother) called them when she was little.

why do you want to convince us that is the good way?
Everyone should be what free