h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm not a grandparent yet, but when I am, I'll acquire not only a new grandchild, but a new name. I might be Grandpa or Grandad, or even Grandpop or something. Similarly, Mrs North could become Granny, Grandma or Nana. You will probably have variants in your part of the world, but you will as likely as not have a choice of terms.

So, what is the difference between these? Is Grandpa posher than Grandad? Is Nana closer to the grandchildren than Grandma would be? Did you have a choice in matters, or was your new name chosen by your grandchildren or their parents?

Mine was imposed. They all sound equally ancient and honourable to me;it's the cuddles that count

Here in Dublin, different families seem to do it in different ways.

I had a Nana and a Granny. One was my mother's mother and the other my father's mother.

My cousins had two grannies, called Granny O and Granny Mac to distinguish them, based on their surnames (most Irish surnames start with either O or Mac).

My cousin's children decided to extend the Granny term to grand-aunts as well, because they didn't think "Auntie" was appropriate for both someone the age of your mother and someone your granny's age. They called their grand-aunt "Granny Nora".

'Grauntie' might be a good term for the great aunts you're close to. All of mine were remote, austere and called 'Auntie'.

According to rumor, when I first learned to talk I called my mother 'Mom', and my grandmother "Mom Mom".

I called both of my grandmothers 'grandma surname', but my grandfather was always 'paw paw'. I don't know who chose these designations.

When my parents became a grandparents, they went by 'grandma and grandpa surname', but my son's other grandparents are 'grammy and gramps'. They all chose their own.

Weirdly, my dad has remarried since my mom passed, and although he is 'grandpa', his wife is 'Miss Rose'. Mr B and I were the ones that started that. Come to think of it, I'm not sure how my sister refers to her with my nephew.

I don't know if I'm all that particular whether I'm a grandma or a nana or whatever, but I always thought using a surname with immediate family seemed extremely formal, so I hope to go by '(title) firstname'

My grandmother chose Nana for her grandchildren to call her as she was a nanny by trade so she liked the sound of Nana best (plus it was easy for us to say). My grandfather was Grandad.

It wasn't always easy to find greetings cards with those names on, as it was often Nanna instead or Granddad instead, but that just gave us an excuse to make our own cards

I had two grannies and two grandads, differentiated only by their surname. One grandad was a miner and one was a marine so they would both count as working class; my father's family is from Hampshire and my mother's from Nottinghamshire so there doesn't seem to have been any North/South thing going on. But it's likely my dad assigned the names, and his sister called my granny 'Nanny Grace' with her children.

So there's a fair bit of inconsistency there already just within one family.

My mother in law is Memere (pronounced Mim-air - she's a French-Canadian American), and my mum decided she would be Nana (which may be the East Midlands standard, I've never thought to ask). Both Grandads are differentiated by location as they happened to live in one-syllable places so this was quite easy.

I appear to be 'Grandma' to my daughter's kitten but then I can't be 'Nana' because that name is already in use.

Having grannies and grandads, I was surprised to find other people used other names ('Pops' in particular I thought odd as a child) but each to his own.

Mol

In my family we always used Gramma and Grampa, even though we knew it was supposed to be Grand. Always followed by the surname if any confusion could arise. If you are sitting on their lap of have just been given a treat, it was obvious who you were talking about. We are going some place with... required further identity.

My Father's mother passed away when I was about seven years old. My Gampa's new wife asked that we all call her Nana, as that was the custom with the rest of her family. This always made me a bit uncomfortable, but I respected her wishes. I don't mind if my parents suggest a title, or if I can pick my own. I do not like when strangers tell me how I should address them.

When my Mother had to go out and run errands she would leave us in the care of 'Aunt Beansie' she was single and her two grown sons were also our Uncles, I am not sure exactly how they were related, I think it was through my Father's side of the family, but he was an only child. She had a huge box of knick knacks that we were allowed to play with as toys.

To answer you original question I think it is best to just accept whatever title you are given and enjoy watching the next generation develop.

F S

All of my grandparents were Gramma and Grampa, but as we rarely saw the mean and argumentative couple, no confusions.

My grand-kids have always called me Poppy, which I appreciated - at 42, it sounded less ominous than Grampa. (The other grand-father is Little Poppy, all of 5' 4") A sort of step grand-daughter calls me Grampa Nick as that how her Mom described me.

My wife is Nana, and both the mother of my daughter and the step-Mom of SiL are Nanny. Very rare that both are in the same town at the same time, so little chance of confusion.

In the beginning, we decided to let our kids and grand-kids choose what was natural to their environs.

My grandparents were nanny and grandad, with their surnames tagged on for clarification if they were being discussed but not present.

My brother's kids call our mum Nanny and my sister-in-law's mum Nanny Tat-tats, because when they visit she takes them out & refers to it as going tat-tats. Our dad's dead and my S-i-L has never know her father but there are respective step-dads and they are called Gaga (ours) and Fatman (theirs). Gaga came about because that's how the youngest pronounced Grandad when she first learnt to speak and it stuck; I have no idea how Fatman came about

I'm very sorry to admit it but my mum & stepdad are Nan & Grandad to my dog. My brother and his wife are Uncle Daz & Auntie Pen . Actually, I'm not sorry after all I don't treat my dog like a baby or a child, but he's my contribution to the larger family, so there

Deb

Up until I was six, I had two grandmothers, though they lived at least a thousand miles apart. I saw one of them at least once a week, and the other only once that I can remember. When it was necessary to keep them straight, they'd be "Grandma surname." When I was six, one of them died, so the other was just "Grandma" from then on.

FS - 'My Gampa's new wife asked that we all call her Nana, as that was the custom with the rest of her family. This always made me a bit uncomfortable,'

This helped me realize a point:

Both of my grandmothers were divorced, and at different times remarried. My dad's mother remarried when he was about 7, his step-dad was the father he grew up with, and he was always our Paw Paw.

My mom's mother remarried when I was 13 (she had been single for 37 years). I called her husband by his first name, Jack. My oldest son called him Grandpa Jack.

Similarly, my husband's father passed when he was a teenager. His mother has re-partnered, but never remarried, they've been together 30+ years. These are the only grandparents my youngest son knows on his dad's side. They are referred to as grandma surname and grandpa first name. It never really occurred to me that's kind of weird.

If they've been together 30 years, that's close enough to marriage that it would pass as such in many places.

Academe is diverse enough that this MUST, surely, have been studied by now.

My mum's mum was Nana, and her mum was Nanny. My mum's dad was Grandy, and his mum was Grandma. No surnames were necessary. That was the extent of my mum's side.

My dad (who I never saw)'s mum (who I never saw) was "Nana (surname)", and her mum (who I never saw) was "Grandma Longbottom" (yes, her actual name). These were the names used in thank you letters at birthday and Christmas, and I think the titles were as much so I understood their equivalence to the people I knew as anything else.

Where would one look to find out if this had been studied properly?

Ignobel prizes?

My dad's parents died before I remember. If I think of them at all, it is as "my dad's father and mother". This thread brought me to the sudden, shock realization that I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WHATSOEVER about her, except that I might have remembered her, because I was as old as three or so when she passed.
My mum's parents were French, so they were always grandpapa (pronounced "Grompuhparr") and grandmaman (pronounced either "Grommuhmon" or "Grommuhmom"). She died in 20066, he died a bit over a month ago.
My sister has taken control of how the grandparents are named. Her parents-in-law Mr and Mrs Green are grandad (or it might be grandpa, I can't remember) and granny, although amusingly, my elder niece took to referring to her as "Ganny Geen". My parents are 'mammy' and 'pappy', which always struck me as odd, because I have never heard of grandparents referred to that way. Even more, I thought they would have trouble distinguishing between "mummy" and "mammy". They seem to handle it fine, though.

Hmmm...

Let's see.

My paternal grandfather was "Paw Paw", if I recall correctly. Or maybe my sister called him that and I called him "Grampa". His wife was "Gramma Virginia". She was our step grandmother as my father's mother died years before I was born. Then there was my great grandmother. She was my father's mother's mother. My sister and I knew her as "Big Mama". Sadly, I later found out she didn't like this name as it made her self conscious of her weight. We were just kids repeating what we were told. I don't know who came up with that name, but I know my father and his younger cousin, "Lucky" used it. I don't think of her as "Big Mama" anymore. I think of her as just my grandmother, Elsie.

I think my maternal grandparents were just called "Gramma and Grampa". Both my grandmother's parents were still alive when I was young. I didn't really know them well. I think my mother and others called her grandfather "Pop", but I don't remember what we called her. Oddly, I interacted with her much more than "Pop". When we would go back to my mother's home in West (bygod) Virginia, we'd go into town to visit... "Mom[?] & Pop's" I think. Yeah, I think my mother and her siblings oddly also called them "Mom & Pop". Anyway, Pop would just sit in his recliner, possibly watching TV or listening to the radio. My mother and others would play cards and chat in the small kitchen at the back of the house. I remember the table. It looked like this one. http://www.r-witherspoon.com/9aee72767de1c65a-1950-formica-table-and-chairs.html
I remember a story about "Pop". He was in the war and apparently he and some of his troop robbed a bank in occupied France. The war ended very soon after and the money was nearly worthless, so they gave bags full to the locals. One bag full might by some bread. I can't watch Kelly's Heroes without thinking of him.

I guess some of these names evolve from child mispronunciations, or from nicknames.
I had a Grandma & Grandpa on mother's side & Grandad & Auntie Lil on the other. Was many years before I realised that Auntie Lil was my Dad's stepmother, not his real one (who died young).
My Mum & Dad insisted on being Grandma & Grandpa themselves, so other side were Grandad & Granna (a compromise - she didn't really want to have sort of Gran name).
We have tried to be Grandma & Grandpa, but our granddaughter is Japanese, doesn't yet speak English, so we're 'english grandmother' & 'english grandfather'. Of course, because she hears us being addressed by our forenames, that's also how she knows us.

Can get complicated when several generations are still alive & together, differentiating between parent/grandparent.

I don't know whether the 1st grand-child of my in-laws tried to call "the old man" Grampa or Poppy. But what came out was "Bawmpy". There are now 4 grand-daughters in that line, ranging from 8 to 28 years old - and all call him Bawmpy.

I suppose it must be interesting to consider the grandparent names in other languages and cultures. There's a Nonno in Italian, I hear.