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Topic: What do you call the grandparents?  (Read 2548 times)

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What do you call the grandparents?
« on: March 13, 2005, 04:42:31 PM »
Just curious to see what others call their grandparents or their kids' grandparents. I only had one set of grandparents for most of my life so they were grandma and grandpa.  But now my son has two sets plus two great grandmothers.  My parents are "grandma and grandpa" and hubby's parents have become "grammy and gramps. Still struggling with the great-grandma mouthful.  We've never used "nana" or "nanny" in our family, my grandma said it would make her feel like a servant (and as she worked as a housemaid when she was young, she would know).  What does everyone else do?


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Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2005, 04:51:30 PM »
We used mom-mom and pop-pop when I was a child.  Niall will probably call his paternal grandmother 'nana' because that seems to be the norm for area in which they live.
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Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2005, 05:04:21 PM »
I call my mom's parents Nanny and Papa and my dad's parents are Sugar and Granddaddy.   ;D


Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2005, 05:13:20 PM »
My parents are Nana and Pop(a legacy of my PA Dutch family) and James' parents are Grandma and Grandpa.  My grandparents were always Gramma and Grampa Lathrop and Gramma and Grampa Schlegel.   :) 


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Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2005, 05:22:02 PM »
I used "Grandma" and "Grandpa" on dad's side.  And I used "Nonna" and "Nonno" (Italian) on mom's side.  I never met either of my grandfathers though.  That's just how we referred to them.
I did meet my great-grandmother.  We called her Nonna Giovannina (her first name).
My Scottish b/f's family uses "Gran" and "Granddad."  And they also call the great-grandmother Gran + her first name.
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Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2005, 05:24:02 PM »
In my British wife's family, grandfathers were addressed as Granddad, grandmothers as Nan.  Or "Gran" could be used for either.

Jim


Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2005, 06:19:49 PM »
I call my mom's parents Mama and Papa (I could not pronounce the full name which was something like Nouge Mama and Nouge Papa, which I have been told is Hungarian for Grandma and Grandpa)

Dad's parents were Grandma and Grandpa


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Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2005, 06:24:53 PM »
My grandparents on both sides were Grandma and Grandpa though with my mother's parents, it did turn more into Gramma and Grampa.

My mother detests Granny/Nana so she will most likely be Grandma/Gramma. DH's mum will probably be Granny though, like my Mom, I personally can't stand it. I think DH's dad will be Grandad and my father is dead so no idea what we'll call him in reference.

In my family we never addressed aunts and uncles as 'Aunt/Auntie so and so' or 'Uncle so and so'. BIL's kids are told they 'must' refer to us as that - but shouldn't it be up to ME what I'm addressed as?!  ???
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. ~ John Lennon


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Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #8 on: March 13, 2005, 06:38:18 PM »
Quote
BIL's kids are told they 'must' refer to us as that - but shouldn't it be up to ME what I'm addressed as?!

I'm with BIL on this one.  I think it is a mark of respect.  Then again, I'm not one for youngsters addressing adults by their forenames without a Mr, Mrs or Ms attached.
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Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #9 on: March 13, 2005, 06:40:23 PM »
In my family we never addressed aunts and uncles as 'Aunt/Auntie so and so' or 'Uncle so and so'. BIL's kids are told they 'must' refer to us as that - but shouldn't it be up to ME what I'm addressed as?! ???

I don't think so, really.  Some people feel it's really important that their children use terms of respect for adults.  Like I was always uncomfortable with my little kids calling adults by their first names and insisted that they use Mr. and Mrs. unless it was a particular friend.  But my friends never seemed to have a problem with it.  
And I think the whole Aunt and Uncle thing goes by family.  In my family we're all 'Aunt Mindy' and 'Uncle Craig' but in James is family we don't use it that much.  


Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2005, 07:30:43 PM »
My MIL is going by Grammy and my mom is Grandma.  The grandfathers, however, have both been referring to themselves as Grandpa.  I figure we'll let Jasper work it out on his own; small kids have a tendency to tweak a name to work with their own speech abilities anyway.

The last few posts got me thinking - I don't necessarily think that addressing an aunt or uncle by their first name is lacking respect.  A lot of it depends on the sort of relationship you have with the individual.  For example, my great aunt (who I haven't spent much time with) is always referred to as Aunt Bea, even when speaking to her.  However, I always address my aunt and uncle with only their first name.  I grew up close to them and saw them regularly, so to me they are sort of an extension of my parents.  It would feel very strange to add "Aunt" or "Uncle" before their name.


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Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #11 on: March 13, 2005, 07:39:09 PM »
My parents : Grammy and Grampy (to all the grandkids, but just my child)
David's parents: Grandma and Grandad
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Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #12 on: March 13, 2005, 09:15:46 PM »
I'm with BIL on this one. I think it is a mark of respect. Then again, I'm not one for youngsters addressing adults by their forenames without a Mr, Mrs or Ms attached.

I agree that titles are a mark of respect, but if the adult is not comfortable with it and gives the child permission to not use it, then I think it should be OK. My mother did this a lot because she hated to be called "Mrs X". The niece and nephew in this case are 8 and 10 - old enough to understand that not everyone does everything the same way all the time. If they were a good deal younger, I'd not bother. That said, as FunGirl pointed out, it is also a familiarity issue. My aunts and uncles were around me a lot growing up. We see BIL's familly once a year if we're lucky. It's for that reason that I don't make an issue of it.  :-\\\\
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. ~ John Lennon


Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #13 on: March 13, 2005, 09:49:14 PM »
My grandparents are/were Grammy and Pepa. We called my dad's mom Munner...dont know why. My kids call my mom and stepfather Nanny and Papa. My husbands father is called Papa by my kids but Granddad by all his other grandchildren.


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Re: What do you call the grandparents?
« Reply #14 on: March 13, 2005, 10:18:00 PM »
My parents are "Nana" and "Papa", my ex's parents are "Grandma" and "Grandpa".
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