Pick a lane...PICK A NAME!

[Anonymous]

So, my Dad has two younger brothers (no sisters). All of us siblings and those of his middle brother call our grandparents the same thing (names my older sister who's the oldest cousin came up with when she was a kid). My grandmother eventually decided she didn't like that name, so when youngest uncle's kids were born, she asked them to call her a different name...but didn't go back and ask the rest of us to change the name we'd been using our whole lives!

Yeah, I'd be totally annoyed with your MIL (or if I was your DD).

[Anonymous]

I grew up calling both Grandma's grandma and it was never an issue.

My MIL's first grandchild calls her "PeePaw", which grates. Neither DH nor I could bring ourselves to refer to her that way to our DD as a baby, so DD calls her Grandma. MIL has adapted, and when she mentioned something about it a little passive aggressively, DH just said, "you can't expect a ruling by a 2 year old to go with PeePaw to stand."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine wants to be called Grandmother Last Name. It is so weird. She is lower middle class.

As in "Can I have a hug Grandmother Smith?"

Geez

More like, "But I don't wanna hug Grandmother Smith!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up calling both Grandma's grandma and it was never an issue.

My MIL's first grandchild calls her "PeePaw", which grates. Neither DH nor I could bring ourselves to refer to her that way to our DD as a baby, so DD calls her Grandma. MIL has adapted, and when she mentioned something about it a little passive aggressively, DH just said, "you can't expect a ruling by a 2 year old to go with PeePaw to stand."

I like your husband!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine wants to be called Grandmother Last Name. It is so weird. She is lower middle class.

That's what my grandmother wanted to be called, and was called. But she was not lower middle class. I just thought it was something very old-fashioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine wants to be called Grandmother Last Name. It is so weird. She is lower middle class.

That's what my grandmother wanted to be called, and was called. But she was not lower middle class. I just thought it was something very old-fashioned.

Not sure what "class" would have to do with it?

[Anonymous]

Just call her Larla. Say the kids made it up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine wants to be called Grandmother Last Name. It is so weird. She is lower middle class.

That's what my grandmother wanted to be called, and was called. But she was not lower middle class. I just thought it was something very old-fashioned.

Huh, we were lower middle class. We called my mom's parents "Grandma Lastname and Grandpa Lastname" when speaking about them, but just Grandma or Grandpa to their faces. My Dads parents were "Grandma Firstname and Grandpa Firstname" about them, but just Grandma and Grandpa to her face. I suspect the latter case was because my mom called her inlaws by their first name. Not sure why we used lastnames in the case of our maternal grandparents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine wants to be called Grandmother Last Name. It is so weird. She is lower middle class.

That's what my grandmother wanted to be called, and was called. But she was not lower middle class. I just thought it was something very old-fashioned.

Huh, we were lower middle class. We called my mom's parents "Grandma Lastname and Grandpa Lastname" when speaking about them, but just Grandma or Grandpa to their faces. My Dads parents were "Grandma Firstname and Grandpa Firstname" about them, but just Grandma and Grandpa to her face. I suspect the latter case was because my mom called her inlaws by their first name. Not sure why we used lastnames in the case of our maternal grandparents.

because one was a witch and one wasn't?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP6VuX-LVL8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP6VuX-LVL8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine wants to be called Grandmother Last Name. It is so weird. She is lower middle class.

That's what my grandmother wanted to be called, and was called. But she was not lower middle class. I just thought it was something very old-fashioned.

Huh, we were lower middle class. We called my mom's parents "Grandma Lastname and Grandpa Lastname" when speaking about them, but just Grandma or Grandpa to their faces. My Dads parents were "Grandma Firstname and Grandpa Firstname" about them, but just Grandma and Grandpa to her face. I suspect the latter case was because my mom called her inlaws by their first name. Not sure why we used lastnames in the case of our maternal grandparents.

because one was a witch and one wasn't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, dear, what can the matter be? Grandmama is so late at the fair.

Your MIL sounds much like my MIL. (I would have a hard time calling anyone Grandmama without going into a high falsetto.) Just refer to her as Grandmama and eventually in a few years it will take (maybe).

OP here. I failed to mention in my original post that my husband and I just call her "Grandma" or "Grandma Sarah." She "corrects" us to "Grandmama" now, and while he sincerely tries and forgets, I must admit that I don't try and I just forget/don't care. I'm just like, whatever...

If she would drop it, I'd probably make more of an effort, but I just can't when she's leaping into every casual conversation/interaction, like, "IT'S GRANDMAMA NOW, REMEMBER?"

Yeah, it's a pain, but you and DH will need to make an effort.

My SIL insists on being called by just her first name b/c she said that "Aunt" made her feel/seem old. My brother and his wife insist on being called Uncle/Aunt as a sign of respect. Sometimes it's hard work keeping everyone happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, dear, what can the matter be? Grandmama is so late at the fair.

Your MIL sounds much like my MIL. (I would have a hard time calling anyone Grandmama without going into a high falsetto.) Just refer to her as Grandmama and eventually in a few years it will take (maybe).

OP here. I failed to mention in my original post that my husband and I just call her "Grandma" or "Grandma Sarah." She "corrects" us to "Grandmama" now, and while he sincerely tries and forgets, I must admit that I don't try and I just forget/don't care. I'm just like, whatever...

If she would drop it, I'd probably make more of an effort, but I just can't when she's leaping into every casual conversation/interaction, like, "IT'S GRANDMAMA NOW, REMEMBER?"

Yeah, it's a pain, but you and DH will need to make an effort.

My SIL insists on being called by just her first name b/c she said that "Aunt" made her feel/seem old. My brother and his wife insist on being called Uncle/Aunt as a sign of respect. Sometimes it's hard work keeping everyone happy.

Oh, I did make an effort--four changes in 2.5 years. I'm kinda out of effort. And I'm not going to push my kids on this.

[Anonymous]

My father sort of did this. He was established as Grandpop by my nephew, the first grandchild. When I had my first, we continued calling him Grandpop, but at some point he started calling himself Pop-pop to my child. So now my mother, brother and nephew call him Grandpop (and my mother signs all cards Grandmom and Grandpop) but my kids and I call him Pop-pop. He switches back and forth randomly. I can't imagine if he'd changed the name four times in 2.5 years!

I know you're sick of the whole thing, but make an effort to call her Grandmama, and this should be water under the bridge in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Hmm, not a problem in cultures where every relationship has a unique name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmm, not a problem in cultures where every relationship has a unique name.

Hmm, not relevant for this particular situation.