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What do you call your Grandmother?

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Reply 100
Nana (name). So dad's mum is Nana June and mum's mum was Nana Betty. I called my dad's dad Grandad and my mum's dad Papa. Was just what my parent's called them when speaking to me when I was young so it stuck.
A few things... If I'm talking about her with people who don't know her, it's 'my grandmother'. To her, it's generally Grandma, and that's also what I write on birthday cards and so forth (I'll use 'my grandma' when discussing her with someone I am close with and who knows her but isn't related to her; if they are related - ie, if they are my parent [no other family that we know of] - I'll stick with 'Grandma'.) Sometimes she's called as Grandmere (even though we're not French :rolleyes:) and Grandmama (said very poshly. :haughty:) She also sometimes spoken about as 'daft old biddy'. :lol: Why? My parents always called her Grandma around me when I was little, so I carried on with it (now, my father generally calls her 'Ma' and my mother 'your grandmother'); she got the variations probably because we're quite close and you develop nicknames for people you're close to.

She's dead now, but I always called the other one Grandma as well - my cousins did, and my parents also referred to her as Grandma when I was a kid - and the same versions of how I talk about her. However, there were no variations for her. I wasn't as close to her as I am to my still-living grandmother, but I still miss her.



(If you're also interested in grandfathers... I never really knew either of them. My paternal grandfather died before I was born, and my parents - father in particular - don't deal with death well, so they don't talk very often about him, even less so when I was a kid and didn't understand death. However, my grandmother does talk about him and she's always talked about him by his first name, David ... so that's what I learnt to call him as well. When my parents realised, they made some effort to talk about Grandad, but it was too little too late by that point: in my mind, he is David. Father gave up and just calls him 'me dad', but my mother continues to try and enforce 'your grandad'. My grandmother doesn't mind me calling him David, she agrees that it would be odd for me to use an affectionate name for someone I didn't know.

I was about one when my maternal grandfather died, so young enough that I don't have any memory of him. My grandmother and he were divorced, and she never talked about him. The only people who did occasionally were my parents. They didn't get on with him particularly well, I don't think he was even at their wedding, and didn't watch their tongues as much when discussing him to try and get me to call him by a more affectionate name. Therefore, I grew up with 'my dad' or 'your mum's dad' ... and that's what I call him: Mum's dad. :dontknow:)
(edited 11 years ago)
Nannie to her face. Refer to her as Nan to people outside the family though
Maternal - Nana
Paternal - Granny
Original post by Hype en Ecosse
Where did those names come from?


babcia means grandma in Polish
memere means grandma in French

my mother's side of the family is Polish
my father's side of the family is French
Reply 105
i call her "old schlaaag!"
Reply 106
My mother's mum was grandma and my dad's mum is nan, just the names I was told to call them from very young and it stuck.
On both sides of my family the 'grandmother' chooses what they want their grandchildren to call them. So I called my mum's mum my gran and my dad's mum my nana :smile:
LOL at the one voter... "grandmother"
Paternal - nana (and grandad)
Maternal - Grandma (and grandpa), but she passed a couple of years ago :frown:

I also call my great grandma GG, she taught that to me as a baby so I would say her name quickly :L


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I call mine Gran, and the other one died decades before I was born, so she's never really had a name.

I'm not really sure why my Gran's called that, although when I was young she was Granny, so I guess it was a sort of natural progression, just Mummy gets shortened to Mum.
Reply 111
Babcia/Babciu
Mom's mom - Nanny
Dad's mom - Evil witch, cow bag, father's mother, Fuhrer and some other stuff. It depends on what she calls me first and whether she likes me for the moment. At the moment she can't stand me so I get called everything under the sun!


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Reply 113
Babcha :biggrin: because I'm Ukrainian.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 114
Mami.... I'm French. :smile: :france:
Reply 115
Original post by hvcxxx
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Congratulations.
Maternal: Bibi
Paternal:Baba

Its Panjabi

If I am in a good mood it changes to Bibs and Bobs. Lol :smile:
(maternal Grandparents) Nanny and Granda. I never knew my paternal grandparents (RIP)

my maternal Great Grandmother was 'Big Nanny'
Reply 118
Paternal grandmother: Oma (German)
Maternal grandmother: I haven't actually seen her in years. I do remember I used to call her Nana when I was little though :s-smilie:
I call them both Gran. My maternal grandmother would hate it if I called her granny or nan/nana because she thinks that would make her sound really old! :p: My cousins sometimes call her grandma but to me, she's jut gran. :smile:

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