Another Name for Grandma!!!

My daughter has three...so she has a name for each which makes it easier for to distinguish whose who....
Grammy, Oma, and Nana!

My daughter calls my mother MeeMa. (pronounced how it is spelled) Started when she was little and it stuck. She is now 4.

Unfortunately my children don't have 2 sets of grandparents, but my husbands parents were me-ma and pe-pa for the older grandchildren before they passed away. So that's what we refer to his parents as if we're ever talking about something from my husband's childhood. There's always nanna. My husbands grandmother is Nanny.

I had Grandma and Grandpa, then Nanny and Poppy growing up! It was perfect.
Good luck

my 2 daughters called her Mema

Nina, Nana, Gigi, Grammy.

My great grandmothers: Gram + last name
My grandmothers: Oma (it's German, but she's Irish and Italian - it just stuck); Mommom (some other variations on spelling are Mom Mom or Mom-Mom, but we pronounce it more like "Mum Mum")
My children's grandparents: Mums (my mom had a really hard time choosing a name so we basically picked one for her and she really likes it - as does everyone else), Nana

We use Oma and Opa and Grandma and Grandpa. My husband is German and that is why we use the German names with his parents. I have several friends who use Nanna for one of the Grandmas and usually they use Poppy with that Grandpa as well.

Hi A.,

I would definitely ask your mom and mother in-law if they have a preference. They might be totally thrilled with one name and not another! When I was little, I called my grandmother Mema - my grandfather was Bee-pa.

My children call my mother Grandma, and my mother in-law is Nana. We also have a very close family friend that is like another mom to my husband and myself - our children call her Mema.

There are also names that are more cultural - like Babcia and Dziadzio (we pronounced "Bob-shee" and Ja-joo). This is what my family called our great-grandparents, who were of Polish/Ukrainian descent.

Here's an interesting link I came across that might help!

http://www.namenerds.com/uucn/granny.html

Try Nana or Nanny. My daughter calls my parents nana and pop-pop and my husbands mom gran-ma. It works well for us..just a suggestion

I'm gram and the other grandma is grammie. When my oldest grandson was around 3 we were talking about something and he called me grammie and then quickly smiled because he called me by the wrong name. Too cute.

Nana is a popular name for grandmas where I'm living now. My husband grew up here and he never called his grandmas grandma. They were both nanas. Thankfully, we call his mom Grandma and his dad Papa because I don't like the nana name.

There's also granny, which sounds old like one in The Beverly Hillbillies. Or just Gran. And Meemaw. I even like that better than Nana. Mami and Papi are Hispanic names given to parents, but that could work, too.

I had three grandmas and if there was ever confusion about which one we were talking about, we simply added her first or last name (depending on which the grandmas preferred). It was never a big issue, certainly not one to stress over especially if you consider I had three "Grandmas" and I managed fine.

I agree with the others that it should be ultimately left up to the grandmas what to be called. I can't stand the name nana so I will NEVER be called Nana. Those are fightin' words. And while some other names are cute, I'm still partial to being called Grandma and that's it.

On a side note, after reading Karen's comment about the teacher at school, same thing happened to me. I was in first grade and the girl in front of me was telling the teacher how she had three sets of grandparents. I thought about it and realized I had three grandmas also (only two grandpas). When I told the teacher that, she got really mad and called me a liar and kept saying I was lying to get attention because my friend had three grandmas. I was able to name my grandmas and say where each one lived but she asked me which grandmas belonged to which parent. When I told her who belonged to whom and Grandma Thelma didn't have a mom or dad, she said my Grandma Thelma wasn't really my grandma and again scolded me because I was lying. I was bawling because Grandma Thelma was my favorite grandma and what I didn't realize at the time was my mom and real dad had gotten divorced and my stepdad had adopted me. They'd been together for as long as I could remember. I ran home and cried about it to my mom, I was so upset about it. I don't know if she did or said anything but that teacher, seeing how upset I was getting, should've really let it go. How mean of her to tell me my loved ones weren't really mine.

my M I L likes to be called Granny.

We have Grandpa and Grandma for my in-laws and Poppy and Mema for my parents. My now 11 year old started calling her Mema and it stuck and my mom loves it!

My mom is Bebe (sound like B B), and my dad is Baba. You have a lot of responses, but I didn't see this one.

Hi A.,
We use grandma and Grammy. My brother uses grandma and gammy. Both have worked well for the adults and the kids! Good luck
L. R

I suggest asking the grandmas what they think:)

Hello!! I know when I had kids I wanted to make it as easy as possible for my kids to distiguish between the grandmas and the grandads. My kids call my father "papa" and my mother "nana". It seems to help when my grandmother which we call "grandma" is around when my mother is around. I hope this helps you out.

There are probably dozens. Examples: Tita, gammy, mima, gram. Usually kids pick what they prefer but I am not sure that at
3 1/2 you will be able to get him to change. Does it create a problem for either Grandmother or yourself? If not then I wouldnt worry about too much.

My mom is Granny,
my grandmother on my mom's side is Grandma,
my aunt's grandchildren call her Nana,
my best friend's mother is Madear,
another friend's mother is Big Momma (for her ample bossom's and larger than life personality),
I have also heard Mama lee, Momma, Gran, and Honey but my personal favorite is a good friend of mine who just became a grandmother for the first time at 39, she is "C ma". She thinks she is too young to be called grand anything.

Granny Babs and Grand Linny work for me. Hope this helps you out. Good luck with you search for the perfect names and designations.

In my family growing up, it was grandma/grandpa and nana/poppy for the two sides of the family.

For my kids it turned out a little differently, but still easy to manage. My dad has passed, so for my kids we only have to have "grandpa" so far for my father-in-law. My mother-in-law prefers to be called "grandmother" so that left "grandma" free for my mom which worked out great for everyone!

But others I've heard are grandmom, grandmama, gramma, mee-maw and granny.

Nana
Mom mom (but this one can be confusing - is she calling for Mom, or Mom mom?)

Nanny
Granny
Grammy
G-mom

When I was little, I had both my grandmothers and grandfathers, and all of my great-grandmothers.

They were Nana & Bop, Grandma & Pop Pop, Granny Limouze, Granny Herpst, Nana Clement & Nana Du (pronounced "doo")

My Nana was aka Big Nana and then Nana Dot while my great-grandmothers were alive (I think she took issue with "big Nana")

Have fun with it, ask your mother or MIL what they would like (some modern day grandma's might feel "granny" is a little old lady that they don't identify with). My brother's inlaws are German and Austrian. They made up their own names, "Opus" and "Mu Mu" (not sure how to spell that). Opus is similar to Opa (grandpa), but it the name of his favorite wine (opus one), and Mu is short for mutter (mother), so Mu Mu is like mom mom.

Ah, yes, what to name the grandparents. My mom is called Mimi and my dad is grandpa (his wife is Grammy). My MIL and FIL are of polish descent so they are called Babci and Dziadzi. What is your background - check and see what names they use for grandparents in that cutlure. I have a lot of friends who use Me-Ma or Ma-Ma. Good luck :)

We call my Mom grammy. I called my dads Mom grammam.

I didn't read the suggestions, but my in-laws are Italian.
Nonna (grandma)
Nonno (grandpa)
Nonina (great grandma)
Nonino (great grandpa)

I think if you identify with a culture, it'd be nice to incorporate that...

Our 3 children grew up saying GRANDMA and NANNY (or Nana).

Hi A.,

When I was little, I was told I was the one who came up with the name "Dear Mama" for my grandmother.

My daughters call my mother "grandmommy".

My nieces and nephews all have different names for my mom (dad is just grandpa to all of them). The Indiana nieces call her Mimi, the NJersey kids call her Grandma (their other grandmother was Nana, as was my grandma!)and the Jersey Shore kids call her GrandmaArlene. I have always thought the Mimi was cute and different.

My daughter calls my mother MiMi and his mother NaNa.

my mom was always known as Nanny.. just plain Nanny.. but she was always super wonderful with my kids.. so i love Nanny.. also heard Nanna, Naunna, bobche (not sure of the spelling- polish for grandma) grammie or gram gram or gram.. just have fun... see what works best..

HI A.,

We have a Nana & Papa and Grandma & Grandpa. :-) C.

Well , in our house we have Grandma, Nanny , and Mammy (sounds like Sammy ) . Good luck !

Hi...

I called my grandmother NANA. Now that she has great grand children they call her greatNana.

They even sell cards at the card store with NANA on them. When my daudgters are older and have children there's no way I want them calling me grandma...it will be Nana for me too...

Judy :)

I'd probably turn Grandma Barb into Baba. I wouldn't let my child call them by their first name. When my mother was still alive, the grandmothers were Grandma Audrey and Grandma Ruth to the kids and it wasn't a problem. My sister has recently become a first time grandmother and she has become "NaLa" (for Nana Lauren). At 3 1/2, I'm not sure how receptive your son would be to someone he's always known in one way getting an entirely new name. If he calls all of his aunts and uncles Aunt Whatever their name is and Uncle whatever their name is, he should be able to manage that with the two grandmas and just be told that it is not respectful to simply call them by their first names. Have you asked them what they might prefer to be called?

Good luck choosing!
M.

We have grandma and papa and Grammy and grampy.

My grandma was Nana and since my name is Nancy and my DD & her DH are both the oldest and both had the first grand baby we got together and decided I would be Nana and the other mom Grandma. It works out great. I have 8 grandchildren and several called me bana as toddlers, one called me meena, but soon they all called me Nana. I love it. When someone asks if I am their grandma, they say no she's my Nana.
You might look into the ethnic background of the grandparents and see what the 'old country' term is. Grammy, granny and gram also work.

We have a Grandma, a Nana and a Grammy. My cousin's kids call one of their Grandmothers Grandma and the other Mimi (Grammy but they couldn't say it when they were young).

we have a Mimi and a Grammy. My mothers name is Mary so she is Mimi Mary and my mother in law is Terri so she is Grammy Terri. Both very happy with there names =0)

My mom wanted to be called Grammie (that's what we call her mom), but my nephew who is the first grandchild couldn't say it and came out with "Mimi". So, Mimi, it is and my mom loves it! Also, my paternal grandmother was Nana.

Don't think you need any other names! Wow what a list. But anyways....my son called my mom "rere" (prounounced with long e sound on both e's) because he couldn't say grammy and then that name just stuck even when he could say it. He is 6 now and is so proud no one else has a "rere". My cousins call their grandma (my aunt) "Nina" which I believe is Indonesian. Then there is also "Nanny" which is my son's great-grandmother and "Nana" which is his grandma. Basically you could choose anything and as long as everyone is happy it doesn't matter what you say. As long as it is consistent and it's a positive name then whatever. Could even call them star and moon (jk :). Good luck!!

Hi A.,

My parents are called Gamma and Skipper, and my in-laws are called Grams and Bumpa. No grandma or grandpa in our house, which makes it very easy when we talk about or to them.

Other names for grandmother that I've heard are Nana, Mimi, Noni, Grammy, Granny, GiGi, MawMaw, Nanny, and Lola.

Good luck!

A.,

My nephew used MeeMa, my son uses Nana, my mom suggested Nonni/Noni. Others use Grandma Greene vs Grandma Kilbury, and such. You might check into other languages, too, that have familiar names for Grandma (German is Oma, I think?)

Good luck,
M.

My kids call my mom Mema. My friends daughter calls her mom Darlin'. My nephew calls his grandmother Baba cause they are Russian.

Funny I had a Great-Grandma names Pauline (Lin) and all the grandkids and great grand kids all called her Nini. So, we had Nini and Nana. :)

My mom goes by Mamou (pr. ma-moo), which is a regional French (Octian) version of grandma. It's super-cute (I think), and easy for a little one to pronounce.

A few other names that I once used as a small child or that I've heard around:

Nana
Bubbie (Yiddish)
Safta (Hebrew)
Nona (Italian)
Oma (German)
Mimi (popular among hip, fit ladies who just don't feel like a "grandma")

Love this post. My mother, when my son was born, picked out her own name -- "Nana" -- but when our son learned to talk, my dad kept slipping up and saying "grand-mere" (French for grandma) in front of him and it stuck, to my mother's dismay. To make matters worse, my son learned to call a "banana" a "nana" and looks confused when I point to his grandmother and say "Nana!" It's become this long running joke in our home! Right now, he says "go-ma" - which I think is a hybrid of the American and French way of saying it.

Hi A.
Congrats on the wonderful family and extended family.
When we were kids, and that was a lot of years ago, we called one grandma, and the other grammy. We always knew the difference. We called my other grandmother, yes although it was many years ago, my grandparents were remarried so grandpa's wife was GrammaDot. Actually Great Grandma was still alive then too. So in 5th grade I told my told my teacher I had 4 grandmothers. She scolded me and told me 2 had to be greats. It would not happen today but I told her only one was great. Boy was she mad.
My nephew called my mom Nana, since both our grandmothers were still alive, they knew he could differenciate between all of them. So all the kids that followed him including my 4 called her Nana. My friend's grandson calls her Neena, my grandson doesn't call us yet as we are out of state and he just turned a year old. My uncle's mother, who lived with my mother's sister was called Nanny. Hey I knew she wasn't my grandmother, otherwise I might have said 5.
Sometimes it is fun to have them choose but I would never let mine call them by their first names at least not without grandma of some sort ahead of it. It makes them realize the respect they should have for them.
God bless you as you decide what is right for you.
K. -- SAHM married 39 years --- adult children 38,33, and twins 19. Only my hubby's mom lives for my kids to call grandma, and she will turn 90 in January Lord willing.

My husbands family is Ukranian and the "Uke" word for Grandma is "Baba". How about looking into the family history and trying that on for that Grandma. A.

My parents are Grammy and Grampy
My in-laws are Mimi and Poppi

Try Nana, Granny, Gram's & G-ma They are all worth a shot. My son calls my mom Granny.

Some names I've heard are mimi, yaya, nonnie, nannie.

In my extended family, we've used Nanny, Granny, Mom-Mom (for Mom's mom). My husband's family used Noni (pronounced naw-knee). Depending on your ethnic background, there may be hints there, too. What did your parents call their grandparents?

hi, my eldest daughter calls my mom "mama" and my husband's mom "granny" and she also calls my dad "papa" and my husband's dad "dada" somehow these names just stuck and i find myself calling them by these names. all the grandkids use these names and its easy to know who they're speaking about.

hope this helps :)

Our grandkids call us Geema and GP and we love it!

Dear A.,
We are about to become grandparents, and what we want to be called is difficult to decide. Some names in our family are Nana, Grammy, Mom-Mom, Mamoo, Mimi, to name a few.
Good Luck, W.

Hi A.,

We have a Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop and Grandma & Grandpa.

J.

Hi A.,

In my household, my 2.5 yr old calls my in-laws grandma & Grandpa, but he calls my parents Lita & Lito. I am Ecuadorian and my husband is Italian & Puerto Rican, so "Lita" stands for Abuelita(grandma in spanish) & "Lito" stands for Abuelito(grandpa in spanish). I have also heard, Mima, Mimo & Nana.

Take care.
D.

HI A., I know grandma's who are called Nana and my grand daughter sometimes calls me Mama. There is also Nanny or Grammy. What your 3 year old did is a stage. My children tried to call me and their dad by our first names as if we had gone to school together. She should grow out of it and shoule be reminded that barb and linny are her grandmothers and deserve the title. Grandma Mary

Try Mimi. My dad is poppy and my mom is mimi. It's also really easy for them to say.

I'm going to be a 4th generation Grandmother who goes by something other than Grandma. Honey was my Great Grandmother. Nonny is my Grandmother. Granna is what my kids call my Mom, and my daughter just got married, so I may be a Grandmother within the next few years. I think my Mom just thinks she's too young to be a traditional Grandmother. I would choose a different name for another reason. It was easier during my childhood years to have one Grandma, and one Nonny. No differentiating required.

Here are a few I've heard (and used!):

Grams (we used this as we got older)
Grammy
Mom-Mom
Gigi (pronounced Gig-ee)

Good luck!

Wow, you got a lot of responses!
I am german my hubby is american. So my parents would be Oma and Opa, as my mom passed before my older daughter was born she is now called (by my daughter) Oma thats in heaven with the angels. My dad remarried so his wife is Renate-Oma and my mother in law (US) liked the german way of saying it so much that she wanted to be Oma too, but that would have been a bit confusing for my daughter at the time, so she is now Omi.
As my husbands father passed away a long time ago we never had to figure out how the girls were to address him, when we talk about him he is grandpa.

I would suggest though to ask your parents and inlaws what they would prefer, now you have a long list of names that you can suggest to them!
Take care!

Ammy is what my son calls my mom.
Another great option is to go with the word "grandmother" in another language...Nona is italian, so we use that sometimes

Hey A.!

We use Grandma for my mom-in-law and Nana for my mom. Works out great!! No confusion! And my daughter who is almost 3 makes it a point to tell those that call my mom "grandma" that "no no, that's my Nana" lol. Its the cutest thing ever. I call both my grandmas "grandma"....no name behind it and boy was it confusing. Lol. We can laugh about it now but I used to hate when I said "grandma" and they both would turn around. Lol. Good luck. Hope this helps!

mimi, mimaw, grammy, marmee, nana of course.

Oh boy we've been there.. In our case, my parents are divorced and remarried to other people. My step dad has been here since before my oldest was born so he's as much a grandparent as my dad. Then ou have my hubby's parents. So my dad is Bumpa, step dad is Papa, and hubby's dad is Grandpa. When my dad was married to his second wife, she was MeMe, but they didn't know her long and never see her. So my mom is Nana and hubby's mom is Grammy. I've heard of tons of different names for a Grandma thogh like NayNay too.

What about nonny and poppy. I had a nana and a papa and a granny. We've done the same with my kids and it is easier.

We've always been big fans of Nana!

How about Nanna or Nanny?

My brother and I always called both sets of grandparents grandma and grandpa, we even called our great-grandmother grandma. One of my daughters called my mom grandma but now shortens it to gran or grammy. My other daughter calls my mom mimi and my father baba. My niece and nephew call my mom mawmaw and my father pawpaw (I think this is a Southern thing). They call their other grandpa Bo-dad (his name is Bo). My other nephews called my father-in-laws baba (I think it is a Persian thing). My older daughter is expecting in Dec. and her in-laws are called Nona and Nonni (they are from Argentina). I too have been thinking of different names from grandma, I feel too young for a name that makes me think of my 92 year old grandma, so I was glad to read all of the answers you received.

My daughter calls my Mom, Grandma and she calls my step-mom, Grammy. They like it so we're happy with it.

HI A.. I didn't get through all the responses - what a fun topic. I hope these aren't all duplicates. Since both my parents and inlaws are divorced and remarried, my daughter has lots of grandparents! She calls them:

Nana and Grandpa
Pop-Pop and Nona
Nonnie and Poppie
Mimi and Grampa

Good luck! : )

Hi A.-
Here are a few names- Grammy, MeMa, MiMi, and Reemie.
Hope this helps
K.

We use Nana and Grandma. I've also heard people use Granny and Nona.

We use Grandma for one side and Mema for the other...it works well. Within our family others use Nana and Noni as well...

We have a grandpa and poppy we also have grandma and grammie. My daughter can't pronouce either get so say calls grammie Ga Ga.

Have fun with it.

We have a Grandma (my husbands mom) and a Grammy (my mother). It works for us. Hope it helps.

My baby named grandma me me and it stuck it's so cute.
From H.

My son calls my parents "Ami" (pronounced ahhhh*me) and "Poppy" and my husbands parents, "Grandma" and "Papa"....
My son kind of came up with "Ami", I dont think it means anything.

Nana, Nanny, Mima. My kids used all of these.

We have a grammie and pap and a grandma and grandpa in our family. My mom is grammie which my nieces (who are both older than my son) started calling her when they started talking. My dad is pap since that is what we called his dad. My mother and father in law requested to be called grandma and grandpa (our son is their only grandchild).

Hmm...my mom is MomMom. My mother in law is "MaaMaa", but she's Chinese, so it's different. ;-) My niece calls her other grandmother "Nana".

Good luck!
(We have a Poppy, too!)

We use Nanny, Nanna or Mema. Hope this helps!

I saw one other mention of this one...GiGi. I have a friend who's grand kids call her that. It's not pronounced like a girl's name. More like the letter G is when you teach your child the sound (as in the word go). My friend loves it and isn't even sure how the kids came up with it. I don't think it's very common.

My oldest son pronounced grandma as "mima" and it stuck. All 3 of my kids call her mima and she LOVEs her name.