Nickname for a grandparent?

All of the new baby excitement and then Jazzcat asking what catnapper will be called set me to wondering.... just what are some of the names used for grandparents?

Mine were called Mammaw and Pampaw. My mom and dad became Nanny and Papa. Now, my hubby and I have been named by our Misha and we are Meemaw and Pawpaw :) Misha's other grandma is Mimi. Carol and I were first Grammy and Grandma but Misha could not at first pronounce the "Gra.." sound and so we learned what our names would be :D

So what names do some of the rest of you use??

Jasmine called Carl bapa but couldn't say bama so Christy had her calling him paw-paw. I wanted her to call me grandma or granny but she just can't get that Gr sound either. One day we were sitting at the table and Christy asked her who Carl was. Pawpaw was her answer. She correctly identified Mama and Dada but when Christy pointed to me, she said "nnn". Christy asked if she could say Memaw and she could so Christy asked me if I wanted to be memaw or nnn. The choice was made for me, I guess.

And now I love it when she says "MY Memaw" when Christy tries to get the phone away from her.

Pampaw.. that is so adorable!

We call our grandmothers Nonna, and our grandfathers are Nonno. It's just the general Italian word for grandma/pa. Not horribly creative, eh?

Up north is was always, grandma or grandpa
nana or nanna
Here in Kentucky, The first time I heard mamaw and papaw, I went "huh" who's that these kids are talking about.
You very rarely here grandma or grandpa around these parts.

I'm Granny and my husband is Pa, or Pawpaw. :)

Lots of kids I grew up with had a Meme and a Pepe (the Canuck grandparents) and a Grandma and Grandpa. As my Grandmother didn't want us learning French, she was Grandma, Swedish gradfather was Grandpa, and on my mother's side, my grandfather's designation was Bummy, because that was as close as my eldest cousin could get to Grampy. So he became Bummy to everyone!

Hmm. My grandparents were Grandma and Grandpa. My husbands maternal grandparents were Mamaw and Papaw. His paternals were Grandma and Grandpa. I imagine that if I ever had grandkids then I would want to be called Nana.

Grandma and grandpa are the ONLY suitable names (in my book) LOL

But I also had a Nana and Pappy (my great grand parents. whenj I was very little)

My OTHER grandparents went by PopPop and BaaBaa, but there was NO way in heck I was calling them THAT! To me they were still grandma and grandpa, even if they hated it (I didn't meet them until I was 12)

My dad's parents were Mamaw and Papaw. My mom's parents are Nanny and Paw (the spelling evolved that way from Pa). As for our daughter's grandparents to be, my husband's parents are Grandmama and Granddaddy. (There are already grandchildren on that side of the family, so those names are pretty set.) The plan for my parents is Papa and LaoLao (Chinese for maternal grandmother), but we'll see how they evolve as Mary Joyce learns to talk.

We've always just called our Grandparents Grandma and Grandpa last name!

I called my grandmother Granny. I only ever really got to know her of all my grandparents. I met my grandfather on my moms side for the first time when I was like 15, so I have no idea why to call him.

My nieces/nephew call my mom Nanny Bobbi and my dad Grampie Andy. My niece calls one of her other grandmothers Mammie (don't know hwo to spell it...maam-E)

I always figured it would be up to the kid to decide what to call me. In the meantime I'll settle on "Grandma" and wait for him to find his own affectionate name for me. I still think I'm too young for "Grandma" so I'm eagerly awaiting the day he starts talking and names me! :D

I think its odd too that I'm settling on Grandma. My mom is Grandmom and so was every other woman in her family. Not Grandma, Granny, Mommom and so forth. Grandmom. I don't know why I don't want to be called Grandmom too --- perhaps it makes me feel too old too soon?

I rather like Mimi, but I think of Abby as my Screaming MeMe for being such a demanding girl. I'd hate to be the screaming MiMi, the grandma who demands stuff from my grandson! LOL

My mom's parents are both gone, but I used to call them Nanny and Papa C. Nanny was chosen because she was Nana to her other grandchildren, but my brother was my dad's parent's first grandchild (got that? lol) and his mom wanted to be called Nana. Papa C was that because, again, my dad's dad wanted to be called Papa. C is the first initial of my grandparent's last name, so it was just decided to call him Papa C.

My dad's parents are Nana and Papa, like I mentioned above :p

I call my grandparents Mama Carmen and my grandpa Tata or Papa Chuchu. I called my other grandpa Tito and mi grandma tita.

My father's parents are Memaw and Papa to us grandkids. Most of our family, including my parents, call them by this, too.


My mother's parents are Grandpa and Grandma Rose (step-grandma) to us grandkids.

None of my grandparents are living anymore, but, I still refer to them as follows:

My mom's parents were Mamoo and Dandy. Mamoo (mom's mom) did NOT want to be called grandma (she never was! :P) so she decided on names for my older brother to call both of them. Her names chosen were Mamaloo and Sugardaddy. Well, since my brother (Ryan) couldn't say all that, Mamoo and Dandy developed and stuck. Everyone called them that, everyone except my mom. When I was younger, Mamoo would refer to Dandy as "Dandy" but as I got older, he just became "Henry". Dandy also referred to Mamoo as "Mamoo" or "My mama". Hehe, weird family, I know. :)

I never met my dad's dad, but his name was Kenneth. I just call him Kenneth if I'm talking about him. As for his mom, I always called her Grandma Bess. Her name was Bessie, and Grandma Bess is just what everyone called her! :D

So now that you know names, let me see if I can expand the weirdness in my family. Mamoo's parents were known as Granddaddy and Ninnie. I don't know the story behind these names... oh well. Dandy's mom is known as Mammow. Dandy called her Mother, Mamoo called her Ms. McCrystal, and everyone else knew her as Mammow. Grandma Bess' mom was known as Grandma Cassell (her last name). Kenneth's parents were known as Mud and Faf.

As for anyone not mentioned, it's probably because I don't have the slightest idea what their name was or what they were called. Oops. And most of these names were known by everyone, not just the grandkids. My great-grandparents were still referred to as "granddaddy" and so forth just because that's what my parents called them; and many people called my grandparents by the names I called them, just because that's how it stuck. :)


EDIT: I just found out a few names that I was unsure of. My dad's mom's dad's name was Granddad Cassell - he was married to Grandma Cassell. My mom's dad's dad's name was Granddaddy - he was married to Mammow more than once. The other man married to Mammow was known as Bud.

My grandma and grandpa are Nanny and Bumpa. I really don't know where they came about. My great grandma was grandma untill my little sister was born and she started calling her Meemaw. My Grandma on my dad's side is Grandma M... My dad calls her Mom when talking to me though :p

bushia and zhazha, both phonetically spelled polish versions of grandmother and grandfather. they were my mothers' parents. grandma was my fathers' side. my mom was called "gahma" by by youngest niece and grandma by the other niece and nephew. it's interesting about the dialect/regional names for the grandparents.

My dad's father and step-mother were Mam-maw and Pap-Paw. His mother was Grandma (we were not close). My mom's parents were Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop.

Josh's father's father was Grandpap. His mother's parents were Grandmom and Pop-Pop.

For Aidan, we call my parents Grandmommy and Granddaddy (which is what we called them for Samantha, so we couldn't break it). Josh's mother wants to be Mom-Mom but I have issues with that and just call her 'your grandmother' to Aidan. Josh's father is Pappy.

I am Nannie and my hubby is Pop Pop. My own mother is known as Nana, and since she is still living I wanted to make a slight differentiation there. :) My dad was Pop Pop. Robyn's in-laws chose to be Grandma and Grandpa so it worked out well.

My next door neighbor's daughter used to try to say Grandma when speaking to her grandmother and it always came out *Geggy* so that name stuck until she passed away 27 years later.

Grammy is my mom.

My boss is called pops and his wife, mops, by their grandkids! I love that!!

My grandparents are MEMA AND PAPO that is how you spell it. You pronounce it ME MAW AND PA PAW. My mother's mother is abuelita. pronounced awelita. Spanish for grandma. :D

Mamaw and Papaw (Mam- Awe) (Pap - Awe) :D

My grandpa on my mom's side I call Pappy, and My grandmother, even though she's no longer with us, I used to call her Nanny. On my dad's side of the family I call my grandpa Paw, and My grandma Maw. :p

My paternal grandparents were always Grandma & Grandpa... Sometimes Grandma is Gram, and sometimes Grandpa is Grumpy. I don't know my maternal grandmother, so she was just always "your mother" when I would talk to my mom about her. Mom's dad is Grandpa Neil, her stepmom was Grandma Ann, her second stepmom was either just Sheryl or Grandma Sheryl, and Grandpa's girlfriend is Lynda. My great-grandma Lizzie is always Grandma Lizzie. She died the year I was born, but the family still talks about her all the time. I have two more great-grandmas I remember: Grandma Barber, and then Grandpa Neil's mom, who we always called "Betty."

I only had my grandmother on my mom's side who died when I was 14 and my grandfather on my dad's side who died when I was 5. I just called them Grandma and Grandpa but I never was around either of them much. My grandma lived across country and my grandpa had Alzheimer's (before they had a name for it).

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Josh's mother wants to be Mom-Mom but I have issues with that

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I would too!! You are his Mom...

Both sets of our parents want to be called Grandma and Grandpa for Zoey I wish the both would have chosen something different :(

I've only known my grandmas because my grandpas died before I was born :(. Now I call my grandma, Grandma Lupe. I don't remember what I called my other grandma. She died of cancer when I was around 4 or so...

I always just called my grandparents by grandma/grandpa and their last name. my ex's nieces and nephews called his parents meemaw and pappy (or pappy dad). they called their great grandmother Beemaw, I don't remember what they called their great grandfather.

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Originally Posted by Samantha Puppy

.... Josh's mother wants to be Mom-Mom but I have issues with that and just call her 'your grandmother' to Aidan. Josh's father is Pappy.

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she was already someones' mom, and josh needs to be the one to tell her YOU are the only mom. IMHO ;)

My niece calls my mom and dad, Mamaw and Papaw.

My dads dad and step mother are referred to by my sister and I, and now Eden (niece) as Grandpa Joe, and Grandma Mary.

My mom's mom (deceased) was Mamaw Verne. Her name was LaVerne. I sure do miss her.. :( I never met my moms dad, he passed away when she was 13. My older cousin, my aunts son, first started calling her that because Mamaw Verne's mother was Mamaw, and instead of calling them both just Mamaw, she was referred to that way.

My dad's real mom and step dad were MawMaw, and PawPaw.

I have a Gramma Grey (I couldn't say Joy when I was little, so I said grey lol)
Gramdpa Philpott (last name)
Grandma Philpott
Grandma Gloria
Grandma Zilkie (last name)
Papa
Gummy
Nanny
Grandma Spillit (last name)