# What do/did you call your grandparents? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 10, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599 "2007-05-10T21:25:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/21 "2007-05-10T23:17:26Z")
[QUOTE=Beadalin] Everyone on my mom’s side of the family goes by first name, including grandparents. On my dad’s side (German, living in Germany), they were Omi and Opi. My mom and dad are now Omi and Opi to my sister’s kids, while my brother-in-law’s parents go by Nana and Papa. [/QUOTE] My German grandparents were Oma and Opa, and my mom is Omi to her grandchildren. On the American side, it was Granny and Grandpa Lastname. ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/22 "2007-05-10T23:22:29Z")
Maternal – Nana & Papa/Poppa Paternal – Grandma & Grandpa My parents and in-laws are thinking about what they want their grandparent names to be, since we’re expecting our first baby this fall – my mom’s already chosen Gram-Gram (which was her paternal grandmother’s name), but no one else has staked any claims yet. ---
**Author:** ![Bagistan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Bagistan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bagistan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/23 "2007-05-10T23:39:51Z")
Maternal: Mormor & Morfar Paternal: Farmor & Farfar ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/24 "2007-05-11T00:28:38Z")
Both sets: Grandma and Pappap. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/25 "2007-05-11T01:12:36Z")
My mother’s parents were both dead long before I was born. My paternal grandfather also was dead before I came along. I called my paternal grandmother “Grandma Sloan” – although all of my cousins called her “Mammy.” Yes, this is the South. My mother’s great-aunt was always “Grandma Weinke” – she reared her sister’s children and they called her “momma” so their kids (my mother and her sisters) called her “grandma” it stuck. My kids called my dad (when he was still alive, well and still…) “Papa”, they call my husband’s real father “Grandpa Benny”, his mother “Grandma”, his great-grandmother “Granita” (what he always called her – short for Grandma Juanita), his ex-stepdad “Poppy” and his mother’s current husband “Papa Brown” Yeh, we have a very strange family. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/26 "2007-05-11T01:15:57Z")
Maternal: first names Paternal: Mammaw and Pappaw ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/27 "2007-05-11T01:29:24Z")
I always called both sets Grandma and Grandpa. Since they didn’t live near each other, I don’t remember them ever being in the same room for there to be confusion. If I was talking to my parents I would say, “Grandpa Lastname” to indicate which grandpa I meant. It is the same for my son. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/28 "2007-05-11T01:40:41Z")
Grandma and grandpa. The last name added if you needed to distinguish between two. I only heard nana maybe 10 years ago, and hate it. It sounds like the kid want’s a banna. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/29 "2007-05-11T02:41:28Z")
Paternal-Grandma and Grandpa Maternal-Mammaw and PapPap ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/30 "2007-05-11T02:51:16Z")
My maternal grandmother was “MaMa” to me. But she was there in the first year of my life with my mom, as my dad was overseas in WWII. My maternal grandfather was “Pop.” Don’t really know why. My paternal grandmother was “grandma.” My paternal grandfather was dead before I was born. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/31 "2007-05-11T03:17:17Z")
Maternal g-mother: Na-Na (which we pronounce as in “Sha-na-na” instead of the more tradiational “Nana.” I don’t know why.) Paternal g-mother: Grandma Ann, which got slurred into Gramman I had a friend who called her grandmother “Panda” which I always thought was cute. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/32 "2007-05-11T03:51:03Z")
Paternal: Grandma and Grandfather (yes I know, it’s inconsistent) Maternal: Nan and Pop (or Nanny and Poppy when we were very small). ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/33 "2007-05-11T03:54:47Z")
Maternal grandmother: GaGa. It was my babytalk for “grandma.” Paternal: Papa and Nana (Nah-Nah) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/34 "2007-05-11T03:59:45Z")
I remember only two of my grandparents. Maternal grandfather: Gar Maternal grandmother: Mimi ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/35 "2007-05-11T04:04:31Z")
I never knew either of my paternal grandparents. Interestingly, my older sibs who do remember them always refer to them as Grandmother and Grandfather Lastname. They always looked so stern in all the family photos, I can believe they were never called anything else. Maternal: Nana and Grandpa Snazzy, because he was such a snazzy dresser. ---
**Author:** ![Pixisis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Pixisis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixisis)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/36 "2007-05-11T04:14:25Z")
Maternal : Nana\* and Pop Pop. (my mother called **her** grandfather Pop, and he was stilll alive when I was little, so my grandfather became Pop Pop to differentiate.) Paternal : don’t remember what I called my grandmother, she died when I was very young, and my grandfather died before I was born. \*Growing up, we were the **only** family I knew that used Nana for a grandmother. All my friends thought it was weird. I nearly freaked the first time I heard it on TV. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/37 "2007-05-11T11:56:02Z")
All four of mine died before I was born (jolly unsporting of them), but other children in my family get to use, variously, Fardie, Pa, and Pop for the men, and Nanna and Safta for the women. Comes from having Aussie, Scots, and Jewish influences, I guess. 'tis all good. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/38 "2007-05-11T11:59:36Z")
Forgot the Asian side of the family… Ba and Ong for grandma and grandpa, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/39 "2007-05-11T12:01:31Z")
My father’s mother (living in England, just had her 100th birthday!) was Granny My mother’s mother was ‘Gaba’ or sometimes Gramma or Gramma P. Both grandfathers died before any of my siblings were old enough to talk much I think… if they ever came up I kinduv think that dad’s father was Granpa and mom’s father was Grampa or Grandfather. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599/40 "2007-05-11T12:05:02Z")
Grandmere and Grandpere. That terminology was conceived during the “We’re French!” fallacy. Grandmere liked the idea of being French, and since she was adopted, she sort of filled in the blanks to suit her whim. She did meet her father when she was an adult, but I don’t think they discussed the whole French thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-did-you-call-your-grandparents/403599.md?page=3)