Here’s my first picture of my granddaughter to share with you! Anne’s April 29 due date is fast approaching.
Today on my WCIC radio interview we invited listeners to share their “Grandma” names and any advice they had for me as I become a Grandma.
Do you have any Grandma names to share? What do your kids call their grandparents?
Any Grandma advice for me?
Wat about JiJi (pronounced GeeGee) And inspired by your name???
What a sweet picture! Looks like she might be sucking her thumb. 🙂
My mom is Grandma and my mil is Grammy. A friend's mom goes by MomMom.
My sisters boys call my mom Nina…I think that's a cute nickname. My boys call her Nanna and my sisters kids call her Grandma. She says, "All three of my girls are different and it even comes out how their kids address me."
My mom will be at the MOPS Zion meeting.
My grandmas were Grandma and Memaw. My kids' grandmas are Grandma Vandercook and Grandma Gail. Although Allyssa sometimes refers to one of them as "The other Grandma," but we can't figure out which one the "other" one is. Her great grandmas are Grandma Juanita and Grandma Piehl. I guess that my family went with first names (their last name is Drachenberg) and my husband's with last names, not too original.
I know a woman who goes by Oma. I think it is sweet and doesn't sound at all like "grandma."
My parents live in Emden out in the country surrounded by corn fields on all four sides of their property. We refer to their place as "EmBerry Farm"…instead of Mayberry. So…we call them Papa and Grandma Berry. 🙂
My mom didn't completely choose a name to go by with our first (neither did my MIL) but he started calling them both Nana on his own when he started talking, and it stuck! My MIL became Nana Jo and my mom was Nana just to be able to distinguish one from the other. Unless you're completely opposed to a certain name, I think it's kind of fun to see what the kids come up with!
My parents are Mimi and Papa. My in-laws are E-ma and Papa. The Papa's get referred to as: Mimi's Papa and E-ma's Papa. 🙂
What a fun time for you!!
My kids call their grandparents a bunch of names… of course we have three sets.
We have Grammie and Bapa
Grandpa and Nana
Grandpa Steve and Grandma Rocky (who also go by Oma and Opa to the other grandkids.)
We have a blended family so my kids call my parents Grandma & Grandpa – my stepson calls them Grandma Maryanna & Grandpa Brad, he calls my husbands parents Grandma & Grandpa & my kids call them Grandma Ronna & Grandpa Jerry (although most of the time my kids just refer to them as Ronna & Jerry which they don't seem to mind, but I'm hoping that sooner rather than later they'll naturally use grandma & grandpa when addressing them). We also have a Granny, Grammy, G-G Maw & G-G Paw, Ma-maw & Pa-paw (those all refer to the great grandparents)
Congratulations! I called my grandparents Mamaw and Papaw (short a in the first syllable). My children call my mom Mamaw as well. My MIL has always been known to her grandchildren (13) and now her great-grandchildren (8) as Nana. My Sister In Law goes by Mimi (pronounced MeeMee).
My mom-in-law's name is Jan so our kids call her Janma! [Distinguishes her from my mom who is Grammy.]
Grandfather names are unique in our family as well … My siblings and I have called our daddy Pappi for years, so when I had his first grandchild he became Grappi. My FIL didn't want the kids calling him Grandpa, so he's "Papa T" for his first name of Tom.
It's exciting and such a blessing as grandparent to hear for the first time, your grandchild call to you…..let them do the naming, take the cue from them…..Our daughter's 5 children have just always called us Gramma and Grandpa, but our son's little girl calls us Numma and Numpa! Whether that stays or evolves, we answer to it and love every minute!
Congratulations!! Do you know if your daughter will be having a boy or girl? Have they thought of any baby names?
My mom goes by Mimi (her name is Michele) and my MIL goes by Yaya (Greek for Grandma). 🙂
Oh I love Yaya! from "dlkelly" I'll have to remember that for when I become a grandma.
My daughters call my parents Gramms and Pabee and my husbands parents Grandpa John and GranMary(like Samantha the American Girl) or Grandma Mary.
My youngest calls me Momma so I kinda like MaMa. Good luck! How exciting!
Whatever you do consult w/ the parents-to-be and see what they think and agree on something together ahead of time. My MIL insisted she wanted to be called whatever the kids "named" her – even though I expressed my dislike of that idea. I know everyone has their own thing and that is fine but I have always disliked adults calling their grandparents something that sounds like babytalk. So my nephews call my MIL Oma (aw-maw) while mine just call her Grandma or Grandma Deb. So, all I'm saying is that its best if you can find something that everyone is happy with so you can avoid future drama. 😉
We call my mom Mimi–which fits her personality–she's no Grandma! We call my mother in law "G". She didn't want to be called Grandma either!
Congratulations! My kids call their Grandmas-Grandma Irene and Grandma Judy. As for advice…my MIL was always let us be the parents when we were together and never gave her opinion unless it was asked for. I know many people who have a difficult relationship with their parents/grandparents because they were made to feel inadequate.
I wanted to pick my Grandma name instead of letting the kids come up with one…that takes a while you know. I have an older woman in my life who I really respected and I wanted to be a Grandma like her. She was Grammy (or Mimi to the little ones), so I decided to be Grammy. I named Grampy too, but it became funny when one of them called him Pipi! Sometimes we call him Grumpy Grampy:)
Best advice…don't miss it! YOu think that your kids have grown up quickly and then you have grandkids and it flies by at an incredible pace. Be involved, find your special thing. Give them opportunities to do things they may not be able to do at home. Let them be messy (and learn to clean up) and cook with them. You can't imagine the love that is going to swell up in your heart soon. Oh, and you have to carry a photo album with pictures everywhere you go…it's the Grandma Rule!
All of my kids' grandparents have their own names. This makes it less confusing for us. My parents are Gramy & Papa (we let them choose). My husband's mom is Nana. (a family tradition) and his dad & step mom are Grandma & Grandpa.
My mother is called Gigi by her granddaughter, but I have a friend whose mother goes by Sugar…I thought that was sweet!
My daughter couldn't say Grammie, so she became a Beanie! We think this is the best name out there.
We call my parents Gigi and Pops and my in-laws Grammie and Papa. I also have a Grammy, so my boys call her Grammy Flo (her name is Florence). One of my favorites that I have heard is Mimz! Good luck picking one!
I have a friend whose entire family calls their grandma Mimi. My daughter for lack of pronunciation skills calls both sets of grandmas Anma and both grandpas Anpa. I don't know if it will last but I love it. I called mine Grandma;o)
Tawnda
My mom and dad are called Nana and Papa. My mil is called Grammy. My grandparents are still living and they are called Gigi and Grandpa.
When my mom found out I was pregnant she was already talking about what she wanted to be called, I was a little uncomfortable about this. I told her that it should be up to the baby, and so that is kind of how it all happened. Grace (my daughter) started talking early and she ended up deciding what my parents were going to be called, and so Nana and Papa just stuck and now I don't think they would change it for the world! Good luck with whatever you decide.
Hi Jill,
When my daughter was born, my mom wanted to be called Granny. But, when my daughter started talking, she couldn't say Granny, but instead came out with Nini (nee-nee). That stuck! But, now she feels like she is too old to refer to her as her "nini" and calls her her "grandma" if she is talking about her to other people.
This is an interesting discussion – I didn't expect there to be so many different names! My girls see my parents often and they are Grandma and Grandpa (although the twin 2 year olds usually just say papa). My husband wanted his parents to be called what he called his grandparents on his dad's side and that was Grandmom and Grandpop Gibson – so to him the names would be familiar. Similarily, I wouldn't have wanted my dad to be called Grandad Brown, because I called his dad Grandpa so Grandad Brown just sounds weird, even though I have a Grandad Lowe (and I would never call him Grandpa). But back to my in-laws, my mil doesn't like grandmom so she wants to be called Grandma and we usually say the last name also to distinguish her from my mom. Wow! So, what do your kids call their grandparents – that might have a lot to do with what Anne's child will call you.
When I was a kid, I had 4 grands and 5 great-grands, and they all had different names. My kids are blessed to have 4 grands and 5 greats too! And it sure makes it easier to keep everyone straight in their minds to have different names. My kids have Granny & Papa, Meme & Granddad, Grandma & Granddaddy (I know those are close, but they were already named before my kids came along), Mema & Papaw, and Mamaw.
My best friend is a speech language pathologist and she told me that babies learn to say D's and N's a lot sooner than M's and G's, so if you want her to say your name early, make it Nana or something like that.
Congrats to you all! 🙂
Our children call my mom Mimi — it's a nickname for her name, Miriam, anyway, and she's always said she was going to be a "Mimi" one day!
My husband's mom goes by Grandmama, but I'll tell you, it's not as easily said from little mouths. Our kids both confused their G and D phonetics, so it came out sounding a little off-color for a couple of years!
The Mimi's and Papa's are popular, that is what our granddaughter calls us. One day we were there when the other set of grandparents arrived and the two year old yelled — TWO MIMI'S AND TWO PAPA'S!