# Grandma & Grandpa? Granny & Grandad? Nana & Papa? Grandparents' names ... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 16, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644 "2005-04-16T16:26:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/41 "2005-04-17T03:56:42Z")
I and my sisters called our grandparents simply “Grandma” and “Grandpa”, adding their first names when necessary for clarity. I used a little variation between my two grandmothers. My mother’s mother was a schoolteacher, and would correct me if I didn’t pronounce the “d” in “Grandma”. My father’s mother, on the other hand, was a Southern lady who would correct me and tell me **not** to pronounce the “d”. Not so much “correct”… when I would call her “Gran **d** ma”, she would say, “would you stop that?” So, I usually called her “Gramma”. My nieces, on the other hand, have eight grandparents, because both sets of “blood” grandparents have been divorced and remarried. So, my mother is “Grannie Annie” and my stepfather is “Bop”. I’m not sure where my oldest niece came up with “Bop”, but she did and it stuck. My brother-in-law’s father is “Papa” and his wife is “Nana”. I don’t know what the nickname is for my brother-in-law’s mother and her husband. As far as I know, my nieces have no special names for my father and his wife, as neither of those grandparents have shown much interest in them. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/42 "2005-04-17T04:11:19Z")
My father’s parents were from the old country and were always called “Grandmother” and “Grandfather.” I once asked my older sister if any of us had ever been told they preferred the most formal designation possible. She said, “No, it was a given.” ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/43 "2005-04-17T04:17:34Z")
I had a Grandma Ida, a Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Bill. My two year old daughter has Grandma, Grandpa and the evil inlaws from hell who’ve never met her. What I call them is too evil to mention even if this thread were in the pit. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/44 "2005-04-17T07:31:24Z")
Gramma and grampa “last name”. Because I grew up in a small town in farm country on the same farm as my paternal grandparents (and later lived with grampa after gramma died), my maternal grandparents became known as the “other” gramma/grampa - not because we liked them any less but because no one knew them as well. Now my maternal grandparents are gramma and grama and the paternal side is dead gramma and grampa. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/45 "2005-04-17T07:40:55Z")
My mom’s parents were Granny and Grandpa. My dad’s parents were Grandma and Grandpa, and Grandpa’s second wife was Grandma Laura. I didn’t know Grandma’s second husband, so never called him anything. Other grandparents I know go by: Mimi and Papa Meemaw and Peepaw Nana and Papa Nana and Pop-pop My parents have no grandchildren yet. Sometimes they argue about what they want to be called in the event that they acquire grandchildren. They don’t get out much. ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/46 "2005-04-17T11:22:50Z")
I called my grandpa ‘Papo’ and my grandma ‘Noni’. They’re just variations of ‘Papaw’ and ‘Nona’, I guess. Maybe I couldn’t pronounce them correctly when I was little…whatever. Hard to say. But, that’s what I called them. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/47 "2005-04-17T11:24:29Z")
Granny & granddad. Both maternal and paternal. I’d probably have been clouted if I called them anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/48 "2005-04-17T14:13:32Z")
I just had a Granny and Grampa. My kids have Granny and Grampa (they were known as Anny and Papar for a long time but it’s changed in the past couple of years.) in England, and Baachan and Jiichan in Japan. My brother’s kids call my parents Nit-Nit and Papar (“The Grannies on the bus go Knit, Knit, Knit…” so my neice at one and a half whenever she heard Granny would say “NIT NIT!” and it stuck. Despite the fact that my mother wouldn’t know a knitting needle if it stuck her in the \*\*\*) SILs parents are called Nun (? Dunno why) and Taid (Welsh for Grampa.) And an irrelevant point - all four of my English parents kids are bilingual. Mine are English/Japanese and the other two are English/ Welsh. ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/49 "2005-04-17T14:15:05Z")
And an irrelevant point - all four of my English parents kids are bilingual. Mine are English/Japanese and the other two are English/ Welsh. I should have said, My parents’ GRANDKIDS. Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/50 "2005-04-17T16:06:49Z")
We never knew my father’s father, so he was always just “Malcolm” the odd times he was ever mentioned. He never knew any of his grandchildren, so no time to give him a name. He died when my father was only 12. My dad’s mom was Nana, I don’t know why. She was irish. She passed away when I was 5. My mother’s father was “Grandpapa” or “Grandpapa Edmund”. His second wife was Mémé or Mémé Chantal. I never thought of her as a grandmother, more like a great aunt or something. Both of them have passed away too. My mom’s mother is Grandmaman or Grandmaman Cécile. She’s alive and well. She sometimes calls her self “Granny” but that seems to be mostly when she’s making fun of herself or when she’s talking to the dog (?!). Her second husband is sometimes called Grandpapa (or grandpapa Albert), or sometimes just by his first name. I’ve always thought of him as my grandfather. Oddly enough, his first wife was Edmund’s sister, and after she died and after Edmund and Cécile divorced, he got together with Cécile. As a result, my mom and her siblings call him “Mon’Oncle” (“my uncle”) and sometimes we grandkids do too! It was only last year that we found out that it really was because he had been their uncle rather than it just being a name used by them instead of saying “dad” or something like that! My mom thought we always knew that, but none of us kids did! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/51 "2005-04-17T16:26:27Z")
WhyKid named my mother “Nonny” - it was actually his first word, repeated from _Much Ado About Nothing_. Imagine my surprise years later to discover that it’s actually a common phenome for referring to the grandmother! My mother-in-law (his step-grandmother) tried to name herself something cutsie (“Nana”, maybe?) when her first “real” grandchild was born, but it never stuck. WhyKid calls her FirstName and her husband FristName, since he didn’t meet them until he was 7. WhyBaby will most likely call her whatever she chooses to, but we’ll refer to her as “Grandma FirstName” until then. My grandmother (kids’ great-grandmother) is Grandma LastName, all the other grandparents are Grandma/pa FirstName. There’s…lemme count…3 deceased and 7 living - welcome to blended family living! My experience is you can call them whatever you want, but eventually they will get stuck with whatever name the slobbering toddler gives them that everyone thinks is cute. No amount of protesting on my MIL’s part has ever gotten any of us to refer to her as “Nana.” ---
**Author:** ![zephyrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/35a633/32.png) [@zephyrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zephyrine)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/52 "2005-04-17T16:53:06Z")
My daughter only has one set of grandparents and they are known as Nonna and Grandpa. She called my grandmother Granny, as did I. I asked my parents and my sister how they wanted her to refer to them. > [@Ace309](#): > > Margaret ceded her right to be Grandma Margaret when Ellen decided she wanted to be called whatever Jackie O would be called by her grandchildren but said it would be an awful shame if there was no Grandma Ellen. That is so sweet! ---
**Author:** ![Stainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/53 "2005-04-17T16:58:30Z")
Well, my brother started some hard feelings with our mom when he and his wife decided that HER mom would be Grandma, and my mom would be Grandma Lorna. Mom felt that it meant she was somehow less significant or something. (My family can be a little petty and very oversensitive - bad combination). Mom was given the option to be Nana, or Nanny or whatever else she could think of but it was apparently VERY important for her to be called Grandma - that was what she had always thought she would be called. _sigh_ So … I was hoping to avoid all of this controversy for our situation. I’m liking the idea of having 2 Grandma’s - and just using their first names whenever it’s necessary to distinguish between the two … Thanks all … some great stories! ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/54 "2005-04-17T19:45:19Z")
> [@zephyrine](#): > > That is so sweet! I know. My aunt was really a wonderful woman. … just to keep this on-topic, one of the girls down the hall had a Grams and a Grandpére. Her mother is a chilly “My mother” whereas her dad is “My Dah.” ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/55 "2005-04-17T21:17:51Z")
The women were Baba and the men were Guido (Ukrainian). This was usually followed up by “Which Baba?”, and a reply of “Mom’s Baba”, who really isn’t her Baba, but my Baba, who is her mom. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/56 "2005-04-18T08:14:16Z")
> [@](#): > > SILs parents are called Nun (? Dunno why) and Taid (Welsh for Grampa.) Think I can help you there **Hokkaido Brit** - ‘Nain’ (should be pronounced ‘nine’) is the Welsh for grandmother (in North Wales). I had a Nain and Taid. (In South Wales they have Mamgee and Tadgee although I’m not sure of the spelling.) And **Zoe** , here you are - on the English side I had Granny and (a very stern, Victorian) Grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/57 "2005-04-18T11:00:50Z")
Dad’s parents - My grandmother died before I was born, so I never called her anything I didn’t know the man well (only saw him about 10 times in 23 years) so I usually called him “dad’s father” or "grandfather [insert last name] Mom’s parents- Grammy Grampy (in the North East it seems that almost no one uses this term except Portuguese familes) ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/58 "2005-04-18T11:16:44Z")
Mine were, Nana Joan and Pop and Nana Pat and Grandpa. The child has Grandma and Poppa. (My mum though Nana made her sound old, Grandma seemed more youthful :D) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644/59 "2005-04-18T11:45:31Z")
**Mr Ujest’s Side of the Family** His parents: \*\*Oma & Opa. \*\* ( german for grandma and grandpa) Great Grandma ( in germany) **Tick Tock Oma** ( a slang within the family for Ohr (sp?) Oma…which Ohr is for Hour. Meaning…lots of hours…but my husband thought of a clock and called his Great grandma Tic Toc Oma.) My side: \*\* Mimi\*\*. my mom’s self chosen nickname. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandma-grandpa-granny-grandad-nana-papa-grandparents-names/299644.md?page=2)