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What is the deal with grandparents being called names other than grandma and grandpa?
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Anonymous
| Sometimes it's regional, too. My midwestern husband grew up with calling both sets of grandparents Grandpa and Grandma, but I am southern and my siblings, cousins, and I called our grandparents by special names. Most of my friends did the same. Neither of my southern parents had a Grandma or a Grandpa either (though they did use Grandmama and Granddaddy for one set). And, I agree that sometimes it ends up just whatever the child can pronounce. |
zumbamama
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My mom didn't want to be called Grandma because she thinks it sounds too old. She came up with her own name, but I don't see anything wrong with it. MIL and S-MIL also chose their own names. I think it's easier to refer to them by their chosen names instead of Grandma 1, Grandma 2 and Grandma 3.
When I'm a grandmother I want to be called Lola, which is what I call mine. |
Anonymous
| As long as neither my kids nor my parents nor in-laws choose meemaw and peepaw I don't care. I don't know why but those names really grate my nerves. |
Anonymous
| My in-laws were already grandma and grandpa, so what do you suggest my kids call my parents? |
Anonymous
| Nai Nai and Ye Ye were the grandma and grandpa (respectively) in a book I used to read with my 4th graders. I believe they're Chinese names. Any chance your in-laws are Chinese? |
Anonymous
I like Lolo and Lola and think it's too bad I am not Filipino. |
Anonymous
| We called one set Grandma/Grandpa and the other Bubbie/Zayda (Yiddish for grandparents, very common). Great-grandparents were Zayda First Name, etc. It worked fine and no one, except perhaps for non-Jewish friends, ever got confused. I too am not a huge fan of "made up" names, but traditional ones I find charming. And I'm not the only one - I think the first thing my in-laws liked about me was that my family used the Yiddish names, as they had with their own grandparents (though their son, DH, did not). I intend to be a Bubbie myself some day, and hope I can be half as wonderful as my Bubbie! |
Anonymous
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I don't find it annoying at all. My MIL did not want to be called grandma, and I totally get it. She is a beautiful, youngish woman, and I think what she connotes as "grandma" material, is not her. So, I think it is nice that she chose something to suit what SHE IS about and the type of grandmother she is going to be. (She ain't about to bake cookies).
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Anonymous
| Question for OP - are they chinese? Because those are the chinese terms for grandma/grandpa. I'm guessing not, because then you wouldn't think it was so out of the question. FWIW, I think it's strange too! |
Anonymous
| OMG, I also posted on an earlier thread. My MIL wanted to be called "daddymama!" LOL! Other than that, they were (and still are, and baby is 8 months old now) paralized with indecision. My FIL picked out a few easy enough names but my MIL won't let him "be anything" until she decides on a name. So when we visit with them, we can't refer to them as anything with the baby. It's so ridiculous. You can't say "Oh, grandma wants to hold you!" because she's "not grandma." But doesn't have an alternative. Honestly, I don't care what she is (though my husband nixed daddymama, and I can't say I blame him) but I just want them to pick already. They keep bugging out about my parents, too, like "oh, they got that name?" WTF? My parents truly don't care and are baffled, but what, are they supposed to not get to be "called anything" either until MIL sorts out her grandparent name? Last time they were up here I told her a story about how one of my childhood friends had a grandma named doodoo (spelled dudu) and that would be her i she doesn't pick something soon. |
Anonymous
| I think the term Pop Pop is bizarre. |
Anonymous
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My parents go by Grandma and Grandpa. Of course, there is also my stepmom--also a Grandma. As for my husband's parent's, his mother is Nana, and his stepdad has special name of "Gran[firstname]" which is very cute. We don't have contact with my husband's father and stepfather, so that's a nonissue. My husband and I jokingly refer to his father as "Grandpa Nowhere". But given that we have 7 grandparents in total (yeah, the wedding was fun), we did need a few names for them just to keep things straight.
When I was little, my first word was calling my grandfather "Tata". It stuck. He's now 92, and I'm 40 and he's still my Tata. But all my other grandparents were just grandma/grandpa. |
Anonymous
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I told my mom she could decide what she wanted DS to call her, and she couldn't decide, so I picked Grammy. She decided it would be funny if DS called my dad Grumpy, but when DS tried to say it, he said Bumpy instead. I thought that was hilarious, so I encouraged it, and we've now got Grammy and Bumpy. DS has no contact with DH's parents, so they're not called anything.
I'm not sure how I would've reacted if my mom had insisted being called by her first name, or something along those lines, simply because she didn't feel old enough to be a grandmother. But, I don't really see the problem with using something other than grandma and grandpa if that's what works for everyone involved, including the kiddo. |
zumbamama
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maybe your DCs will marry a Filipino(a) then they can call you Lola! |
Anonymous
Yeah... very irritating. |