It hasn’t changed a bit, really.
Paternal Set: Grandmom & Grandpop
Maternal Set: Nona & Papa
Mom’s mother was Maw and her grandmother was Momma. Her father was Granddaddy Webb (Webb being the name he used) and her stepmom I still call Mama Burke (last name). Dad’s parents were Granny and Pawpaw. My kids call my mom Gammaw and called my dad Gampaw. My daughter has a baby girl who is too young to call me anything, but my daughter, wife and son have been referring to me as G-pops (because my son calls me Pops). I used the same names for my grandparents even as an adult when applicable.
My maternal grandparents were Grammy and Grampy. My grandfather’s parents (who both outlived his wife by several years) were in turn Great-Grammy and Great-Grampy.
I didn’t call my paternal grandparents anything in particular because my grandmother died before I was born, and my grandfather distanced himself from his children and grandchildren immediately afterwards.
Dada. It was my first word and it’s still what I call him. As does pretty much everyone else even his kids now (my uncles). I think only my mom and aunt call him “dad” everyone else calls him Dada.
I was just about the only kid I knew growing up who called his grandparents (all four of them lived into my adulthood) by their first names at all times.
As a child I called my maternal grandmother Mimi and my maternal grandfather Gar. They had both died before I left school, so I don’t know how I would have addressed them in adulthood.
My father’s parents both died before I was born.
As a Child.
Maternal: Grandma MaidenName & Grandpa MaidenName.
Paternal: Cita & Cito. (Not sure why we called them that though).
As an Adult I only have one surviving and She is called CC by all her grandchildren.
I missed out on the grandparents boat and only know/have one, Grandpa. He’s re-married and I call his wife by her first name (although she is awesome and is my “grandmother”).
We have names for my parents and my brothers’ in-laws that we use for our dogs: Grammy & Grampy for my parents and Mama Lisa & Papa Doc for the in-laws (he’s a doctor and technically the step-dad).
I have a feeling when my niece is born we will pass those monikers down to her, because we are all insane and treat our dogs like real kids, so they will be the names that her “cousins” use. Indeed.
Maternal grandparents: Gammy and Gramp
Paternal grandparents: Dada (pronounced day-da) and Pop
Only great-grandmother: JoJo
Kept using those names as an adult (except for JoJo, who died before I was a teen).
My Granny & Pappaw are always just that. And actually I don’t usually even use the “my” in front of Granny (who is my only grandparent still alive). My mom says that when I was little I called her Nan-Nan, but at some point before I recall and I know not why, it got switched to Granny. Pappaw used to call all the kids Jiggs, so he was known as Pappaw Jiggs instead of by his name.
On my mom’s side, it was Grandma Lastname and Pawpaw Lastname. Pawpaw died when I was about 10, but Grandma just died last year. For some reason, after we became adults, she became Grandma Firstname. It’s funny… She had lived with my TN cousins for awhile when they were kids, and later in the same town, and they all called her Grandma Ruth. After my mom became disabled she moved in with them (I got married a month later so never really lived with her). We jokingly say that you get to call her by her first name after she lives with you.
My great grandparents all died when I was a kid, so I didn’t get to specifically call them anything as an adult. When I talk about them I alternate between calling them what I called them as a child (or what the family called them if I was too young/not born) and calling them “my great-grandmother” or father, depending on if I need to be specific on which generation or if it didn’t matter.
My 17 year old still calls her grandparents by what she’s always called them. But in her family (okay, she’s my niece by marriage, but we are raising her, so that’s why it sounds like I just talked about my child and now I’m talking about her random family that isn’t mine)… Anyway, in her family they call everyone MamMaw Firstname and Pappaw Firstname. No matter which generation and which side of the family. (I do think there is one that says it more like Maw-maw and the rest more like Mam-maw, and the same with one Paw-paw and many Pap-paws, but it’s hard to keep stuff like that and which one spells it how straight!)
Like the rest of my cousins, I call my mother’s mother “Grandmother” and my mother’s father “Granddaddy.” Sometimes in talking about them, we add their last name.
When talking about my father’s parents, I always add their last name. I never knew them.
My maternal great grandmother (whom I never knew) but whom I’ve grown to appreciate, has always been called “Grandma White” by her family. (not her real name) I’ve recently begun referring to her as “Granny Fannie.” My mother was indignant when she heard it, but I claimed a great-grandchild’s privilege. Besides, there are many beautiful fannies in this world.
My paternal grandparents were Grandad and Grandma Razor; maternal grandmother was Grandma Blivet. We were taught to use last names out of respect. My son and his wife are trying to teach our granddaughter to call us Grandpa and Grandma (or, more accurately, Grampa and Gramma) but use our first names. This is because mommy’s mommy (Grandma Pam) is prone to changing her last name via Las Vegas wedding/divorce (she’s done it three times in the 15 years I’ve known her) and the kids don’t want to confuse their daughter. Tough cookies, says I – the child calls me Grandad Razor or she’s out of the will.
Laughter generally ensues.
Both of my grandfathers passed away before I was born, which is obviously going to affect my answers here…
I called my maternal grandmother Nanny until the day she died, when I was 18. I still refer to her as Nanny today when I talk about her. Mom sometimes referred to her father as “your pop-pop” when talking to us kids, but none of us ever knew him since he died so young. My kids (who are 9 and 15) now call my parents Nanny and Pop-pop. These names are normal for grandparents where I grew up.
I called Nanny’s mother Grossmom, an odd mix of German and English that doesn’t seem to be too popular outside our family… but that was what she wanted to be called.
I called my paternal grandmother Grandma, or sometimes Grandma Lastname. My brother was lucky enough to know our paternal grandfather and always called him Grandpa or Grandpa Lastname.
Most of my grandfolks died when I was young. I called Dad’s dad PopPop. His mom I called Grammy. (She actually didn’t die until I was much older, but I hadn’t seen her in years.)
My Mom’s parents were more formal and it was Granddad and GrandMom.
I’ve always called my grandmother Nana… Didn’t get the chance to meet my grandfather. I’d probably have called him Gramps or by his first name.
My English grandmother was Grandma Jane. My Greek grandmother was γιγιά (pronounced yi-ya), which is just Greek for grandmother. Both of my grandfathers had passed away before I was born.
I call them all the same thing I called them when I was a kid - mom’s mom is Momma, dad’s mom is Nana, dad’s dad is Grandpa, Grandpa’s second wife is Terry, stepdad’s mom was Dorothy, and dad’s dad’s parents were Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa.
On the other hand, Mommy and Papa are now Mom and Dad.
I’m surprised that there isn’t more of a cultural/ethnic spin on grandma and grandpa on this board. Anyway, my family on my mom’s side is polish so we call ‘grandma’ Bacci, pronounced like bocce ball which is a perversion of the polish Babushka (not sure about that spelling) because my oldest cousin who was the first grandchild couldn’t say babushka. My ‘grandpa’ we call Dzia Dzia which is correct as far as polish goes, only we pronounce it like ‘ja-ja’ or simply jaj. On my dad’s side it’s more boring, nana and papa although I never new his dad, that’s what everyone who did refers to him as.
My paternal grandparents (both deceased now) have always been Abuelita and Abuelito, for all their grandchildren (Abuelo and Abuela are the Spanish words for grandfather/grandmother, the -it- is a diminutive). My maternal grandparents, Yaya and Avi (Avi and Avia are the Catalan words for grandfather/grandmother, Yayo and Yaya are Aragonese dialect of Spanish). The Nephew, whose mother is Aragonese, refers to his grandmothers as Yaya Blasa and Yaya Maite, to my grandparents as Yaya Lola and Avi, to his grandfathers (both deceased) as Yayo José and Yayo Jaime and to the mother of his Yaya Blasa as Abuela María.
One of my aunts asked another cousin to drop the Aunt, years ago, and my cousin asked whether the family tree had changed or something. No, it hasn’t, no. OK; so you’re still my aunt and I’ll still call you Aunt, if you’ve got a problem with that get the tree amended.