# Nicknames for grandfather **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132 "2007-08-27T18:26:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/1 "2007-08-27T18:26:10Z")
I have gone through life assuming that one day, I would be grandpa. Now that my daughter is close to making me a grandfather, I discover to my horror that her in-laws are already using the names “grandma” and “grandpa” in their family. I don’t want to confuse the poor little one by being one of two people named grandpa, so I’m looking for a different title. Young folks – what do you call your grandfathers? Grandfathers – what do your grandchildren call you? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/2 "2007-08-27T18:28:59Z")
This is why - though I love English - sometimes I think it’s stupid. Hindi has names for almost every relationship, and you know instantly who I am referring to and which side of the family they’re on. Nana = mother’s father Nani = mother’s mother Dada = father’s father Dadi = father’s mother I know this probably isn’t much help, but I wish we had stuff like this more in English. Good luck in your hunt. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/3 "2007-08-27T18:31:54Z")
In my family grandfathers are Papa (though my maternal grandfather preferred his personal nickname of Mustang, so you might want to consider Wombat). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/4 "2007-08-27T18:36:03Z")
Papaw in my family. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/5 "2007-08-27T18:37:23Z")
FWIW, all of my grandparents were “Grandma” and “Grandpa.” If we had to distinguish them in conversation, they were “Grandma Firstname” (maternal) and “Grandma Lastname” (paternal; she was more formal). (I should clarify that these designations were not assigned by the grandparents in question; they were just what we used.) And there were also two elderly couples who lived on our block who we also came to call “Grandma” and “Grandpa.” I don’t recall ever being confused. You can have multiple brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins – why not grandparents? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/6 "2007-08-27T18:39:26Z")
In Italian, Nonno (no-no) and Nanni (nonny). A guy I know just lost his gf and delivered a moving eulogy to “Pops.” ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/7 "2007-08-27T18:46:28Z")
Papa, pronounced “puppa.” ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/8 "2007-08-27T18:54:53Z")
I grew up with a Pap-pap, later changed to Grandpap (at my father’s request - he said Pap-pap was too juvenile) and Pops (but even his kids call him Pops). My daughters have Pap-pap, Pappy George, and Granpap (also known as Daddy’s daddy, since they don’t see him much and they’re easily confused). For grandmothers they have Grammy and Mimi. Mimi was designated such by my nephew and it stuck. We find it a handy differentiation. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/9 "2007-08-27T18:58:45Z")
Some first names are amenable to being blended with “grandpa” (or some variant) into a single word. For example, my cousins’ other grandfather was named Dan, so he was known by all as “Grandan”. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/10 "2007-08-27T19:04:05Z")
Me: Nana (Dad’s Mom) Papa (Dad’s Dad) Mormor (Mother’s Mother) Morfor (Mother’s Father) My son: Gramma (My mom) Grampa (My dad) Grama Thora (Husband’s Mom) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/11 "2007-08-27T19:09:18Z")
Mine were “bubbie and zadie” ---
**Author:** ![Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tool_of_the_Conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/12 "2007-08-27T19:19:16Z")
When I was little, my grandparents were just Grandma & Grandpa, because my paternal grandparents were already dead when I was born. I had two living great-grandmothers: Grandma Ruth (first name) and Grandma Waughtal (last name). My kids call their grandparents Grandma & Grandpa on my side, Nana & Poppi on my wife’s side. My grandparents are still also Grandma & Grandpa… My kids haven’t met their great-grandparents on my wife’s side since they’ve been able to talk, so I don’t know what we’ll call them when we visit them in Hawaii next month. We solve any ambiguity by adding a first name, e.g. Grandpa Joe. Of course, “Grandma” and “Grandpa” are always pronounced “gramma” and “grampaw”. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/13 "2007-08-27T19:20:41Z")
I had a Granny and Grampa, and a Grandmother–the other grandfather, who I wasn’t close to was Grandpa Lastname. There’s always Papa, Pop, Pop-pop, Papaw, Paw-paw, Gramps, Grandpa Firstname, Abuelo (Spanish), etc. ---
**Author:** ![Micro\_Dot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Micro\_Dot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Micro_Dot)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/14 "2007-08-27T19:26:21Z")
My kid’s grandfathers: one is Grampa John, and the other no title just the name, Leon When I grew up the form was Grampa Smith and Grampa Jones ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/15 "2007-08-27T19:46:10Z")
[QUOTE=Missy2U] Me: Nana (Dad’s Mom) Papa (Dad’s Dad) Mormor (Mother’s Mother) Morfor (Mother’s Father) [/QUOTE] I see you’re mother’s family is Danish. My son has a Farmor, my ex mother in law revels in being called that. (The once a year we see her) I absolutely love the separate titles for different sides of the family convention. I had two sets of Granda and Grandpas, and I only distinuguished between them by their last names. My great grandmother was Nanny. My son, despite me saying “Grandma and Grandpa” had a hearing impairment when he was learning to talk, and spontaneously started calling my mom Nana and my dad Papa. Not what I would ever have picked, but it works for everyone. My grandmothers who are both still living are called “Papamommy” and “Nanamommy” and this way he understands who these people are and why we visit them. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/16 "2007-08-27T20:16:09Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] In my family grandfathers are Papa (though my maternal grandfather preferred his personal nickname of Mustang, so you might want to consider Wombat). [/QUOTE] Grandpa Wombat. I love it! Everybody else might think I was off my rocker, though. I’ve thought about “Grandpa” followed by my first or last name, but it just doesn’t sound right. Any Scots or Germans in the thread? My dad’s family was Scottish and my mom’s was German. I don’t know what they called grandparents because they were using Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, and Pap-pap by the time I came along. I thought about Pap-pap, but that’s what my kids called my father, and it just seems wrong for me to take his name. “Pap-pap” will always be him. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/17 "2007-08-27T20:25:21Z")
My grandfather and grandmother were Granny & Boo (though he preferred Mr. Boo). Kiddoeeaddi calls her grandmothers ‘Grandma First Name.’ She calls her grandfather Zayda. ---
**Author:** ![dynamitedave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed655f/32.png) [@dynamitedave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dynamitedave)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/18 "2007-08-27T20:25:43Z")
My Dad’s Dad was called Pop-a (spelt Poppa?) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/19 "2007-08-27T20:27:42Z")
“Alter Kaker.” ---
**Author:** ![GillianBoardman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GillianBoardman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GillianBoardman)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132/20 "2007-08-27T20:34:24Z")
My grandparents were Grandmom & Grandpop. I don’t see anyone else coming up with that. We used the last initial to differentiate when necessary. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-grandfather/417132.md?page=2)