What Do You Call Your Grandparents?

[clarinette]

I called my dad's parents Grandma and Grandpa LastName. My mom's parents were Gran and Gramps.

[preciousjeni]

A little thread hijack...

I know a lot of people call their grandfathers "Papa." I call my father "Papa" and, when I was younger, I thought it was weird when people called used that term for a grandparent. My mother is "Mom" though she calls her own mother "Mother."

All my friends knew my mother as "Ms. [First Name]" and my father as "Papa [First Name]." I've come to realize that it's a southern thing for children to call adults by their first name, but only when preceded by Ms., Mrs., Mr., or some other title.

I'd be interested to hear what people call/called their parents as well. New thread topic or could we just add on here?

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

I'd be interested to hear what people call/called their parents as well. New thread topic or could we just add on here?

Mommy and Daddy. My sister and I never saw that as something to "grow out of," that's just who they've always been to us.

ETA: Though it's not unusual for me to call "Momma!" really enthusiastically....as in "Not the momma!!" It's an inside joke between us so she doesn't mind.

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

I'd be interested to hear what people call/called their parents as well. New thread topic or could we just add on here?

I called my parents Mummy and Daddy when I was little. I started calling them Mum and Dad at some point around age 12, and I've called them that ever since.

I call my in-laws by their first names. My husband's grandmother is "Grandma <firstname>", mainly because it feels strange to call someone two generations older than I am by just her first name, and it also feels strange to call such a close relative "Mrs. Lastname".

[Gusteau]

My maternal grandparents are Grandma and and Grampa, though when I was too young to pronounce that they were Mamaw and Pampaw. My maternal great-grandmother was Grandma FirstName.

My paternal grandfather was Papa FirstName, and was also called that by his great nieces and nephews if I remember correctly. My paternal grandmother died before I was born, but we have always referred to her conversationally by her nickname. My grandfather would always call her "your Grandma Nickname" when he talked about her.

As to preciousjeni's question, my sister and I have called our parents Mom and Dad since we grew out of Mommy and Daddy, although I'm not above the use of Mommy when the occasion calls for it (as in, I need my mommy). My mother and her siblings call their parents Ma and Dad.

[Smile_Awhile]

Maternal:
Mom's mom: Was supposed to be Gran- I was taught this (as the first grandchild on that side), but it eventually became Pat-Pat (first name Patty).
Mom's dad: Dan-Dan, because his first name is Dan
Mom's grandmother (maternal): Mamie (though I never met her)
Mom's grandfather (maternal): Grandpa
Mom's grandmother (paternal): Nannie
Mom's grandfather (paternal): Pa

Paternal:
Dad's mom- Mam. She's a very proper woman who insisted on raising all of her children to say "Ma'am" and "Sir" when called for. One of my cousins heard her father or mother saying it on the phone all the time to their mother- so she became Mam. It stuck.
Dad's dad- Granddaddy

[libramunoz]

Maternal grandmother--Momo--The story goes that the first grandchild was trying to talk. Her mother was trying to teacher her the word Grandmother and Momo came out.
Maternal grandfather--Granddaddy--everybody called him that. Matter of fact, when the greatgrands were coming along, he asked them one day what was his name and they both (they were 4 I think at the time) said, "Granddaddy."

Paternal grandmother-Grandma Maria
Paternal grandfather- don't know, the guy died when I was 2. I do know his nickname, but never heard anyone say his "grandparent name."

My mom, I call her "Momma" and my dad, "Daddy or pops." She signs things to the grandkids (thanks to my bro) Grandmama.

[carnation]

I've noticed that several of you never knew what to call grandparents who died before you were born. I never knew my mother's parents and to this day, I have to improvise when talking about them.

I was thinking about what I wrote about trying to get grandchildren to call you a name you like. My mother is the poster child for what not to do! She kept referring to herself as "decrepit old Granny" when my oldest niece was born, little realizing that my niece would pick up on it and name her that. My mother, who was only in her late forties then and looked a bunch younger (right, AGDAlum?) had really wanted some very cool and youthful grandparent name.

A word to the wise!

[AOII Angel]

My mama's parents are Mamaw and Granddaddy(deceased).
Her maternal grandmother was Mamaw Haynes. I never knew my great grandfather.
Her paternal step grandmother was Nanny (real name Nancy) and grandfather was Aayah (first grandchild's attempt to say his name, Aubrey). Her paternal grandmother was Grandmother.
My daddy's parents were Grandma and Pepaw though originally we called her Memaw. After Pepaw died, and I went to college near her, she told me she didn't like Memaw so we all changed it to Grandma.

My parents are called Mimi and Papa. Neither wanted to be grand anything or be confused with other grandparents. Mama wanted to be Nanny, but her sister claimed it bc her name is Nancy. BTW, when we call my father "Daddy" it sounds more like "deady" in our accent. Odd I know, but that's how we all say it. My husband laughs at me all the time.

[honeychile]

.My daddy was always Daddy. My mother & her siblings called theirs Daddy until he died (at 97!), too.

When I think of my mother, I think of Mama or Mommy (for when I'm depressed or miss her a lot), but when I was working with her, I called her Dixie. We also had a joke about calling each other "Hey, Lady".

[XAntoftheSkyX]

Maternal grandparents - Grammie and Papa

Paternal grandparents - Gramma Bird and Grampa Jim

Bertina is a family name, and a combination of being a toddler/abbreviating names made it into Gramma Bird.

[Benzgirl]

Maternal Grandparents: Mama and Dedo (common in Slavic languages). My cousins called my grandmother Baba. We were around her a lot more often since we lived in the same town (and state), so there was never any confusion on who was Mama.

The only great-grandmother on my mother's side was Baba (again, Slavic). I never knew either of my great-grandfathers, but Baba's husband was always referred to by my mother and her siblings as "my" Dedo.

Paternal Grandparents: Grandma Alice and her husband was Grandpa Earl. My paternal grandfather died before I was born and he is still referred to as Grandpa Kenneth.
Both Great-Grandmothers (paternal) were Grandma [last name]

Nieces refer to my parents as Baba and Bobby (dad's nickname) and their other grandparents as Grandma and Grandpa. They called my grandmothers the same thing that we did: Mama and Grandma Alice.

[carnation]

When I started this thread, I mentioned that we called our grandfather Bimbo. Now I've heard worse. I reconnected with a pledge sister recently and she said that she called her grandfather Pimpaw.

[barbino]

Originally Posted by carnation

When I started this thread, I mentioned that we called our grandfather Bimbo. Now I've heard worse. I reconnected with a pledge sister recently and she said that she called her grandfather Pimpaw.

My husband had an uncle that was nicknamed Bimbo. My husband called him "Uncle Bimbo."

[littlesquirrel]

My mother's side--Grammy & Boo. Father's side--Grandma (Name), Grandpa (Name).