# What do you call your grandmother? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 10, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607 "2013-11-10T23:06:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/61 "2013-11-11T08:27:20Z")
I called my paternal grandparents Gramma and Grampa, and my maternal ones Gomma and Gumpy. In my family Nana was the name for great-grandmothers. My own parents didn’t want any child-coined funny names when my kids came along so they named themselves Gram and Skipper. I am Nanny to my grandson, also by my choice before he was born. My husband is Grampy. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/62 "2013-11-11T08:27:52Z")
Maternal: “Ma” Paternal: “Nana” ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/63 "2013-11-11T11:37:18Z")
One of my grandmothers really prefers mother/grandmother over any shortened forms: I didn’t figure that out until my teens, but follow her preference now. Her husband was Grandpa to the grandkids and Dad to his kids. The other one was always “Grandma Lastname”. Neither ever lived close, so both were talked about more than they were ever addressed. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/64 "2013-11-11T11:54:48Z")
Maternal -\> Ouma Paternal -\> Grandma or sometimes Granny ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/65 "2013-11-11T13:33:49Z")
I called them “ajji” when they were alive, which gives away not only which country I’m from (India) but which state (Karnataka). ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/66 "2013-11-11T13:45:15Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Since this is a poll, moved to IMHO (from MPSIMS). How come I can’t see the poll? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/67 "2013-11-11T15:04:42Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > How come I can’t see the poll? Have you considered that you might actually be a Cylon? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/68 "2013-11-11T15:22:49Z")
If you stare at the screen long enough, you’ll see the poll. It’s like one of those 3D cards, where you have to focus just a certain way. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/69 "2013-11-11T15:27:41Z")
Maternal - Nana Paternal - Grandmom This was in Maryland in the 50s and 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/70 "2013-11-11T15:35:09Z")
Maternal grandmother was Wela a sort of Americanation of ‘abuela’. Paternal grandmother was Grandma Jean. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/71 "2013-11-11T15:40:11Z")
I called myself reading earlier posts carefully so I could just ditto somebody else’s words, but I may have missed my names precisely. All my grandparents were alive in the early years of my life and both sides were Grandmama and Granddaddy Surname. The last to die was my paternal grandmother. I never heard any of my cousins call her anything but Grandmama. But there may have been some Grandmothers by some of the younger ones. Nonnie was the name my kids had for my first wife’s mother. I don’t think they had a special name for my mother. Grandmother or Grandmama probably. They weren’t around her all that often. My grandkids have called my current wife Grammy or Mimi and maybe other things I don’t recall that well. My first wife had died before they were born. Other names for grandmothers I have heard include Maw-maw, Mee-maw, Gramma, Granny and the like. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/72 "2013-11-11T15:43:51Z")
Old New Englander here (born and bred). Always called her Nana. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/73 "2013-11-11T16:12:16Z")
My grandmothers were Mom-Mom Pearl and Mom-Mom Sarah. Maternal grandfather was Pop-Pop Joe, later just Pops (paternal grandfather died before I was born). This was in Philadelphia. Our kids call my parents Grammy and Grampy (these were determined by my nephew, who is the eldest grandchild), and my in-laws are Grandma and Grandpa (same as my wife called her grandparents). ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/74 "2013-11-11T16:42:16Z")
Granny and Granddaddy on mom’s side and Mama and Papa on my dad’s. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/75 "2013-11-11T16:48:30Z")
On the English-speaking side: Momo. On the French-Canadian side: Grandmaman. I’m guessing the French sort of shows my heritage. I have no idea where the Momo came from - I have several older cousins, and one of them started it. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/76 "2013-11-11T17:16:36Z")
My grandmother on my moms side was called Mimi. It was actually her mom’s name and my brother got confused as a kid and called my grandmother Mimi and the name stuck. Now my mom is Mimi to our daughter. My grandmother on my dad’s side was called Bubbe, which is a Jewish term for grandmother. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/77 "2013-11-11T17:32:22Z")
I’m from Cleveland, with roots in western PA. My grandmothers were both just “Gramma”, or “Gramma \” if it was necessary to disambiguate them. My grandfathers were “Granpap” or “Pappy” on my mom’s side, and “Granpa” or “Pop” on my dad’s side. I never knew any of my great-grandparents (they died before I was old enough to remember). When my sister had kids, my mom was around a lot more than their other grandmother when they were babies, and she became “Gigga” from a babyish pronunciation of “Grandma”. My sister decided that it was convenient to have different names for grandmothers, and so “Gigga” stuck for her, the other grandma was just “Grandma”, and the sole surviving great-grandparent was “Mazzie”. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/78 "2013-11-11T18:42:15Z")
Belgium one bon mama US one Gram ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/79 "2013-11-11T18:58:23Z")
My parents are from Eastern PA, Pennsylvania German. We called my father’s mother “Grandma” and my mother’s mother “Nana”. Grandma’s mother was Great Grandma and Nana’s mother was Great Nana. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607/80 "2013-11-11T20:35:42Z")
Mom’s side: Grammer and Papa. “Grammer” came from the oldest grandchild; that’s how she pronounced it and thus, Grammer was ever so. I think “Papa” came from what my mom and her sisters called their father, but I’m not sure. Dad’s side: Grammie and Grampa. My great-grandmother (Dad’s Mom’s mom) was Grandma Lamb (her lastname). My mom is known as Gramilla to her grandchildren, Dad’s GrandBob. My mom’s name is Willa (Dad’s is Bob, obviously); I think that rather than either being a mispronunciation by a grandkid, these names were either suggested by or inspired by me. Funnily enough; I don’t even have kids! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-grandmother/673607.md?page=5)