Nicknames

Hi J. -

My mother had a hard time with this as well. She didn't want anything that sounded like Grandmother. So somehow she became Lollie and my Dad is Pop (LolliePop). It is really cute and my youngest son calls he Waddie (we are working on the 'L' sound). My MIL is JaJa (have no idea where that came from). I also have a friend that was called Honey by her step-grandkids. They always heard their grandfather call her Honey so they did too. It was really cute. Even when the kids were older it was still cute.

So we have non traditional:
Lollie
JaJa
Honey

Good Luck and just remember to have fun with it. I'm sure you will all come up with something perfect for her.

A. K

My son will call his Grandmothers.. MiMaw, MawMaw and Granny. However, we were going to call Granny, GraMere.. because she is apart of the french side of the family and everyone calls her Mere. Mere is the french word for Mother. But I found this link online, so it might help as well. Good Luck! This process is still getting to me as well because we are still up in the air about some names too. http://www.thenewparentsguide.com/grandparents-nicknames..... Also, I have a friend who told me that she decided on a name for her future Grandchildren to call her. She wants her name to be Pretty. She says she wants them to always say something nice to her so this is the way they will do it. Ha! It's actually very cute though. So maybe she would like that name or something along those lines. Again, Good Luck!

J.,
I have always been a proponent of letting the kids develop the name.....over the years the sweet angels have had enough trouble with the word Grandma that it has given rise to classics like; Gammy, grammy, gigi, gaga, gummy etc. But if you still want it decided ahead of time you might opt for an exotic foreign word....My mom is Oma to my kids which is grandmother in German and Abuela is grandmother in Spanish and I have heard "Abby" as the abreviation for that one. Good luck in the search, congratulations and let us know what you decide!----J.

I'm MiMi, and I love it!! My children call my mom Gran.
Good luck in finding the perfect name for her!!
C., MS

congrats! it must be exciting to be a new aunt! My 7 and 3 year old daughters call my mom NeNe and my dad Poppi. I also know of a little girl that calls her grandparents Lolli and Pop!! (lollipop) If you still can't find a nickname to suit, don't worry the new baby may create his or her own!!

I am Mimi and my husband is Poppy. We actually don't have Grands yet but have several friends with toddlers and that's what the oldest started calling me so it stuck. I like it!

Well, we only have two choices and I'm sure one won't work for you...my son calls my husband's mother "GrandMary" (but her name is Mary, so that won't work for you) but he calls my mother Memaw...it's cute. All the other grandkids call her Mamaw but my son couldn't say it & it came out "Memaw" and it stuck...If you look for a grandfather name, we always use Papaw, but my nephew has a cute one he uses for a grandfather..."Grumpers"

Some names that we've used are Granna, Granny, Memomma, and MawMaw. My sister's kids call one of theirs Nana. I have cousins who call their grandma Mimi. My son calls my sister Mamie, but I think it would make a cute grandma name.

good luck!

oh, and on Arrested Development they call her Gangi and him Pop Pop. :)

My mother goes by Gran. We like it.

My neice's and nephew's, and lil girl call my mom nonnie & they call my dad pappy....if that helps for something unique hope jyou find something you can use....

My mom gets called Uma by her grandchildren. (pronounced Ooo-muh).

My nephew was the first to name her this, he was trying to say grand-ma-ma and it came out as Uma, and she's been Uma ever since.

my grandchildren call me N. and I love it cause that is what I called my mom when I was a baby cause I had problems saying some letters m was one of them so it tickled me when my youngest daughter little girl call me N. so we kept it when she had her boy he didn't know what grandma was only N. granny is also another one good luck

I have a "granny" so when my daughter was born we encouraged her to call my mom "granny". My niece and nephew leave the r out and call her "ganny".
J.

I like Granna... that's cute!! I also like Nana and Mimi! Good luck!

Ya Ya is greek for grandma and is really cute. My nieces actually call me yaya because they had trouble saying my name when they were little. All the grandkids call my mom Noni and she loves her nickname.

Combine Grandmaw and Donna -- Granna

:)

my mother in law's name is Ann, so we call her Gran-Gran. Of course, kids may or may not call them what you hope....my younger two couldn't say it, so sometimes say gee-gee (with the G-sound like the G in Geese). We still call her Gran Gran and they are starting to more and more. To me, it doesn't sound too old, and it nice and short.

My Mom didn't want to called Grandma. So, I suggested Granny ( which is my personal fav ) We all agreed on Grammy and for her it is very fitting!!
T. S

My mom goes by Mimsey, but my personal favorite is Mumsey (an old boyfriend's name for him grandmother).

my daughter calls her grandmother Nana.

What about Dee-Dee since her name is Donna?
My friends Grandmother is K-Kay because her name is Katherine, it could work.
The Grandmother names in my family are
Nina my grandmother
Nana my grandmother
Grandma my mother-in-law and husbands grandmothers
Grandmama my mother

Gigi, Gammy, Nani, Mimi, and oh there are so many more names. But what does the grandmother want to me called? My Dad was the same way about being called grandpaw so all my kids and the rest of the kids call him "sarge". He loves it. She'll find something that she would like and everyone will adapt. Congratulations!

Be patient and let the grandchild pick (or help) the name. We attempted to get my nephew (oldest grandchild) to call my mom a certain name. He started calling her "Gogo" on his own because she is always on the move. She is constantly saying "Let's go....." She loves it and we never would have come up with it on our own. My oldest daughter (the first on my husband's side) started calling my husband's mother "Bebe". Her name is Betty and my daughter called her security blanket "B" so it was easy for her and thrilled my MIL. I can't quite remember how, but the children did participate, my dad got the name Bear and my father-in-law got the name Pop Pop.

My mom is called Me-Me. It's easy for the kids to pronounce and really cute. They call my dad, Pops. It's really cute.

Also, I've heard of Me-Maw, Poppie, Papa, Gram.

I guess my question is, why does the "blood grandchild" require a different name to refer to her? I would say let all the grandkids - step & blood - call her the same name.

Get grandma and the grandkids together to come up with something new....

I think "Honey" is a cute name for a grandmother. That's what I want my grandkids to call me one day!

We have a Granna...which at the moment it comes out as "Ganna" and a mi-mi!

get online (yahoo) and search for cool grandma names. my mom found ya ya which is what she is known as plus you can even find the origin on some of them

In our family, step-anythings are called the same as blood-relatives. We don't make a difference and are introduced as "my daughter, Aunt ..., Uncle ..., our grandchildren, son-in-law...." just like any other family member. Our family is really close and this helps everyone to feel the same. Maybe your family could take this same practice on. It's never too late to start new traditions. If any blood-relatives get upset then they are selfish. Any past divorces shouldn't affect future relatives. It's all about family and love.

We had the same problem, but my toddler fixed that for us...she calls her namaw...everyone likes it and its easy for the kids!

We use Grammy, Nana, Granny, Mamaw, Meme, Maw-Maw, Dado, Babo, Poppi and Papaw. Hope these help.
Congrats to all of you!! You will have loads of fun!!

Hey J., there are so many already out there. I'm Grammy. Originally i wanted to be Grand Mommy but we agreed that it was just too long altho i have a friend who is called by that name. You may find that the child will create their own version of whatever you choose...my parents were MawMaw & PawPaw and for the greats they are Great Maw and Great Paw.....my great great grandmother is simply Two Greats. have fun...R.

you have received alot of responses on this one! have you thought of 'nonna'? i had a friend who's grandma was nonna, especially with donna. sounds cute. my grandma was 'neno' and i had her for 29 years. have fun choosing.

My two year old grandaughter calls me "Gammy", I like this , its a little different thatn grandma....

What is wrong with GRANDMA? All my grandchildren call me GRANDMA. They are all equal in my eyes and I love them all the same.

Proud Grandma
S. Miller

We have a Grandmere, Grammy, Gran-Gran and Nana...

mimi - french for grandmother
I have always called my grandmother just grams

My mom's last name is Daigle and My mom wanted something unique that didn't make her feel so old. So we call her Gran-D (for Daigle) And my stepdad's name is Poppa-D! We like it and it's cute to hear the grandchildren say it!

I all actuality, your sister's child will come up with a name for Grandmaw Donna. My 2 year old granddaughter was told what to call her grandparents, but she has made her own names up to distinguish between. She has Grandmaw, Grammy, Nanny, Nanny J, Paw paw, Grampy, etc. The child may eventually start calling your mom what the other children call her. It's sometimes hard on children to have the same grandparent but refer to her with different names, too. If you can't figure a unique name out, the child will.

Well, my husband's family calls their grandmother "Memaw". Our kids call their paternal grandmother "Nana" and paternal grandfather "Pawpaw". My side of the family has never done nicknames for grandparents - it's always been "Grandmother" or "Grandfather", "Grandma" or "Grandpa", usually with the last name affixed. Perhaps what might work is to look for something organic, that grows out of your child's relationship with the grandmother? One of my nephews calls another of his aunts "Gun-gun", which has absolutely no relation to her name, but that's what he calls her.

Our family tradition is that the 1st grandchild born gets to name the grandparents. My grandparents were "Me-mo" and Pa-Po" for the greater part of their lives because that's what came out when the child tried calling their names.

:-)

After months of debate when I was pregnant with my first child my mom decided to be "Grams". She then realized it would be a while before she could actually say it...turns out didn't matter what we thought at 16 months my daughter looked at her and said Bebe and every since then that's been what we called her.

We use Mamaw, Nana & Nina. I really like Nini, though

My kids call my parents Papa and Nana and his others Grandma and Grandpa. He started calling them both Papa (and Pop Pop) and Nana all on his own and then slowly he differentiated. I've also heard Mimi and Memaw

I just found out I too am going to be a grandmother for the first time and wanted something different! Something that didn't sound old! ha! My friend suggested CiCi, since my name is C.. So maybe DeDe? I liked Meme. Good Luck & Congrats!!

Maybe Nana?

What about the name for Grandma in a language related to your heritage? That can be unique and very special! My mom's parents were Buszia and Dzia-dzia (boo-sha and ja-ja are how they're pronounced), Polish. Just google online and see what you find. Will be fun, too, and connect you and your kids to your heritage in a small way.

L.

Hi J.,
I reccommend that if your Mom doesn't like what her step-grandkids call her that you let the parents know this and they give her a new nickname she likes when your neice/nephew is born you he/she can use that name.
Also, I agree with the Mom who wrote in that her grandkids gave their own name to the grandparents.
My Daughter started calling my Mom "NeNe" and her other 3 granddaughters call her "Grandmother". NeNe Loves the informality of it plus at 14 mos or so she couldn't pronounce "grandmother" anyway.
Now she's almost 3 and can say say "Grandmother". My Mom says it's fine if she contiues to call her "NeNe" and wishes my oldest neice had come up with that my daughter's next oldest cousin is 16 so it's like my Mom has step grandkids.
Good Luck!
C.

Nicknames are nicknames because they just happen, you don't plan them out in advance. You can come up with a cute name if you want, but your kid may or may not use it. They will find their own sweet way of refering to their gma. Perhaps it will start because they can't quite say the full name "Memaw", perhaps it will evolve over the years (older kids calling grandma "G"), go with it and don't force it.

I love the nick name mi mi (pronounced me me). I am a grandmother of 3 and wish they had called me that instead of na na.

Kids have a way of coming up with their own nicknames for relatives. My sister's name is Laura, but when my daughter first started talking, it came out "Ya Ya." My daughter is now 18 and my sister is still Ya Ya to her.
If your mom refers to herself in the third person when talking to the baby, when it starts talking, it will probably use whatever neme she calls herself. In other words, if she coos to the baby, "Come see Granny" when she picks it up, it will probably learn to call her Granny.

My mom chose "Nana" for my daughter (her first grandchild) to call her. But for some reason my daughter couldn't/wouldn't say Nana, she would say Nanny! So it's kinda stuck. We still kinda say both. So I guess you should just be prepared that even if you pick something, the child may come up with his/her own!!

We have several grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and step-grandmothers:

Grammy
Mom-o
Memaw
GiGi
Mimi
Oma-ma (German gor grandma)

I also had a Greek "grandmother" (not actually a relative, but a neighbor) and she was my YaYa.

Hi J.

I am G. - part Grandmother, part Mimi. My mother was Mimi. I chose this name G. before my first grandson was born and my husband put it on a plaque on the rocker (G.'s Rocker) he bought for me to rock all 12 of my grandsugars in.

That first grandson called me "Mer" and my husband "Dee" - I know hr got those because his parents called us "mother and daddy - the baby used first and last sounds. I kept correcting him to say G. and eventually he did. but I met another "Mer" at a garage sale once and we talked about it as she was the only other one I ever heard of.

She spelled hers like the expersive gift brought by the wise men in the Bible (Frankincense and ) Myrrh (sp? ) Had I thought of that spelling, I would have kept Mer and forgot about G.. The baby eventually named my husband O'Pa and RON took what the baby called him. I LOVE Myrrh though.

The other most uniuque Great Grandmother name was my auntie whose great grandsugars called her GiGi. I thought that was so cute ; )

Blessings and tell your Mama G. sends congratulations and prayers for all to go well!

How about Nana or Meme...

When I was pregnant with my daughter (the 1st grandchild on both sides) everyone decided what they wanted to be called...my in-laws wanted to be Gramps and Granny and my parents wanted to be PaPa and Grammy. My daughter has changed those to PePa and MeMa and PaPa and Mammy. Ha. But it was still fun to come with different names. :)

My grandchildren call me "Nana". I love it, and it is easy for little ones to learn to say. Good Luck. B. T.

We call my mom Grams! I have also heard and liked, Gramie, Maw (like GrandMA.)

how about "mama D"

My aunts name is Deanna and her grand kids call her "Granny D." My Kids call my mom "Nonnie" (rhymes with donnie, not fony)