Only had the one, maternal side (my paternal grandmother apparently believed some crap from that side that I wasn’t really her grandchild a few days after I was born), so – I called my one and only grandma “Grandma”. She passed away when I was 9.
OK, I had NO grandparents that I called Grandma or Grandpa.
Dad’s Side: His parents were divorced. His mother I called Mama Cook (before that, it was Mama Tice - she had a few husbands). Her husband was Erby, so I called him Erby. His dad I called Papaw, and his wife, Deanie (her name)
Mom’s side: I called her mom Nonna (my cousins called her Mammy). My grandfather died in a car wreck 10 years before I was born. Nonna married a man named Paul, and we called him Mr. Paul.
My kids call may mom Grandma Norma, my stepmother Grandma Jolene. They call my wife’s mom Grammy and her husband Pop. My wife’s dad is Grandpa, his wife, Grandma Diane (well, actually, my kids call her Grandma, but we’re not having that (long story).
Thanks for all of the great suggestions! In our family there is already a Nanny, Grandma, MiMi, and MawMaw so I’ve been trying to come up with something different to avoid confusion.
I like Lolly and Pops, but Mr. Adoptamom is having no part of it, settling for Gramps instead.
Meemaw is nice, too. I think I’ll let that one roll around my brain for a few days.
Just to broaden the pick from list, how would I go about finding out what children in other cultures/languages call their grandparents?
Thanks again!
I call them both “Grandma.” Although one is “that drunken selfish bitch” behind her back. However, I wouldn’t recommend that one. 
Here is a cute little site that shows how to say grandma and grandpa in other languages.
I hope you find one that you like soon - and let us know what you decide on. And congratulations - what fun a grandchild will be! 
My grandparents lived in the same small Alabama town and we called them Granddaddy and Grandmama to their faces or when referring to them in the presence of others on that side of the family. When referring to them with our parents we added the surname for clarification. This thread has caused me to realize (maybe suspect is more likely) that I never saw my grandparents together anywhere, which is weird since they lived less than a mile from each other.
My children referred to my parents as Grandmother and Granddaddy, and would add the surname if it came up, but they referred to my wife’s parents as Nonnie and Gran.
My grandchildren refer to my wife as Grammy, but since they have two sets of “grandparents” on their fathers’ sides (biological and step-) it gets weirder still. There’s a Neenie and a “Mama her-first-name.”
It has put me off the notion of extending the family tree down to the grandkids’ generation, simply because I don’t know these other people on their bio-father’s side and don’t plan to meet them. There may be other layers that I’d just as soon not find out about. But I digress.
Other names for grandmothers that I have encountered with friends and other relatives include: Mawmaw, Mother surname, Granny, Meemie, and perhaps others that aren’t coming to mind.
In German it is Oma and Opa.
My family, my mom is called Mimi. ( What she called her Irish Grandmother.) her sister, gave herself the nickname of Nu-Nu.
on my dad’s side I’ve got Nonnie and Grandfather
on my mom’s side, Gran and Grandad.
The grandmothers are still around, grandfathers are both gone.
My parents say that when I have kids, they want to be called “Cosmo” and “Tootsie” or “Toots.” I think they’re joking, but I’m going to follow through with it.
I have Grandma Firstname and Grandma Lastname.
(I used to have matching Grandpas, but they are both deceased. I usually call Grandma Lastname just Grandma in speaking to her, but add the Lastname part in speaking of her- especially since now we’ve added the next generation*.)
- Silly story unrelated to this thread. I was writing people’s names upside down for the benefit of my two-year-old niece. (They were right side up from her perspective). Niece’s name, Baby’s Name, sorry Grandma (my mother) not going to write an upside down G, sorry Great-Grandma(same reason), Sis-in-law’s name- you know- that was dumb. I should have written MOMMY (WOWW upside down Y- would have saved me trying to figure out how to write an S upside down.)
My dad’s parents I called ‘Grandma and Grandad.’ My kids call my folks the same – Grandma and Grandad, or Grandma & Grandad James when they are speaking of them. We also called my mother’s mother Grandma. My mother’s father died when I was an infant, but I probably would have called him 'Daddy Ted," since my mother called his father (her grandfather), “Daddy Paul.”
My husband called both sets of grandparents ‘Grandma & Grandpa.’ Our kids call his parents the same – just Grandma & Grandpa.
Personally, I’m planning on being ‘Granny’ to my grandkids, whenever they come. My husband hasn’t voiced a preference, though.
My mother’s parents lived in our town, and we were very close to them. They were Grandma and Grandpa.
My paternal grandfather died before I was born, but my paternal grandmother was Grandma Lastname. She lived in another state and we saw her three or four times a year, so the relationship was not as close
My grandmothers were Grandma and Nanny. Fortunately, Nanny is still with us but has graduated to Nan.
Oddly, my grandfathers were Grandfather and Pop. One of the aunts who married into my family could never get to grips with “Grandma and Grandfather”, insisting that it had to be “Grandma and Grandpa” or “Grandmother and Grandfather”. She made her kids call our grandfather “Grandpa”.
We called my dad’s parents Grandma and Grandpa, and my mom’s parents were Meemaw and Peepaw.
We rarely saw my stepdad’s parents and were able to avoid calling them anything when we did see them. Behind their backs we called them “bless her heart” and “that poor man”.
I never met my maternal grandparents. I called my mother’s stepfather Grandpa Lastname.
My paternal grandparents are/were Gram and Gramps.
My boys call my father Papa and my mother Busha (it’s Polish). Their father’s mother is Ganky and her husband is Grandpa Firstname.
Congratulations! You will enjoy being grandparents, I am sure.
Grandmothers: I am Babsie, my mom is Omi, a variant of her mother’s name of Oma (German, as Shirley Ujest pointed out.) My son’s mother in law is known as Ninna. My mother in law is Meemaw.
CubHubby is known as Papa Bear or Papa. His stepfather is called by his initials, and his step grandfather is called by his first name. My dad was Grandpa and my grandfathers were Grandaddy and Opa.
Enjoy yourself and pick whatever names you like. I picked mine and I couldn’t be happier.
My paternal grandparents are Papa Firstname and Grandma First Name.
My maternal grandparents are Papa and Othermom. My brother spent a lot of time with them when he was little, while my parents were working, and he dubbed our grandmother his Other Mom. It stuck, and I picked it up.
Both of my sets (while still alive) were Grandma and Grandpa (but pronounced more gram-ma and gram-pa).
We only have pets, but our parents are grandma and grandpa on my side and mammers and poppers on his side.
RE: Jennie Mom. To our dog, I’m Niki-Mom. 
I had matching Grandma Lastnames, although the paternal one only existed in the abstract. Neither grandfather was around by the time I showed up, but I imagine they’d have been Grandpa Lastname. Now that she’s gone, the maternal grandmother is referred to by her first name (Mary) in tones that imply the “Saint” before her name.
My cousin Kelly recently popped with her second daughter. When she was young, she had a strong relationship with her other grandmother, who was Granny to Mary’s Grandma. As a result, my aunt is now Granny to Kelly’s daughters, and my large, lumbering uncle is “Paw,” because that’s what the first one could pronounce.
My mother’s mother was Dodie–that was a childhood nickname that all of her siblings used, and it just kind of became her name as a grandmother. (Her real first name was Dora.)
My father’s parents were Gran and Grampa.
Now that I have kids:
My mother and stepfather are Granny and Grampy–their choice. (My mother does not seem to be anythink like what I envision a “Granny” to look like, but she insisted.
My in-laws are Grandma and Grampa Papa. My husband tried to get our daughter to call his father GrandPapa, but our daughter could only do it as two separate words when she started talking. Her version stuck, although our nephews (no nieces) call him Grandpa.
My father and stepmother are Grampa Firstname and Grandma Firstname. We only see them every three or four years, so the more complicated names aren’t a problem.
My living grandmother’s name is Sarah. However, there are several other Sarah’s in the family, so this one goes by Sylvia. …Come to think of it, I have no idea where that name came from, as it is not her middle name. Whatever.
So anyway, when I was little, I was trying my best to say “Sylvia” but couldn’t. So “Syl” was what came out, and what I’ve been calling her since.