What to call grandparents?

KittahMama

My mom and dad have two grandchildren from my brother.  The oldest started calling them Mimi and Pops and it's stuck.  So I imagine my little girl will call them this as well.

DH's parents are in England (his father is actually Welsh and his mom is 1/2 Welsh)...

They hate the thought of grandpa and grandma as well as some of the other ideas (I tease his dad and say she is going to have a southern twang and call him Papaw!)...

So today I got an email and his mum suggest using the Welsh words for grandfather and grandmother- which are Taid (sounds like Tide) and Nain (sounds like Nine)...

Thoughts? Suggestions?  What are your babies going to call their grandparents?

1MusicMaker

I think you should go with whatever they want to be called.

My parents are Nana and Bampa (sounds like bumpa--that's what the 1st grandchild called him so it stuck, lol), and DH's parents are Nan and Pop Pop.

MTClaire

I think the Welsh names are great!  I have no idea what ours will be called.  I guess I should ask them if they have any preferences. 

STFWIFE

DD calls my parents Grandma and Grandpa, she calls DH parents NaNa and Papaw.  She just started calling his mom Nanie (dont know where she got that from).  How about Oma and Opa (duch for grandma and grandpa)

two-pink-shoes

Let the grandparents pick.

GinEthansMom

We introduced our parents as Grandma and Grandpa and let Ethan give it his best shot.  My mom and dad became "Ghee and Papa" and DH's parents are "Meemah and Bumpa".  That was all up to our son.  So cute!  They totally stuck and the grandparents love it!

bloverly

While they'll have technical names, I'm sure it'll be more whatever falls out of LO's mouth when it comes time to talk. You can establish any name you want, but if LO won't say it, what can you do? My friend's name is Aindrea(Irish spelling, it's Andrea) and her nieces and nephew call her Yey Yey because that's what the oldest managed to get out when she could talk. Even though they're all old enough to call her Aindrea, they still call her Yey Yey. She loves it!

GatorMrs_Esq

I always called my mom's parents Grandmother and Granddaddy, so I suspect that's what baby will call my parents (once s/he can talk, of course).  The in-laws will probably be Grandma and Grandpa.

joelen&louis

It's easy for us because of our culture (Filipino).

MIL will be referred to as "Lola" - means grandma in Tagalog
FIL will be referred to as "Lolo" - means grandpa in Tagalog
My mom will be referred to as "Bae/Ba-eh" - means grandma in my parents'  Filipino dialect
My dad will be referred to as "Laki/La-key" - means grandpa in my parents'  Filipino dialect

mzovoce

LOVE the Welsh names, i'm pushing for Mimi and Pipi, but it's not going over so well.

sugarland726

I say to go for the Welsh names. My grandmother preferred to be called Oma, German/Dutch for Grandma so that's what she has always been.

My niece calls my parents Granddad and Gigi (well she doesn't really call them anything yet). DH's parents are already Grandma and grandpa to an assortment of existing grandkids.

MermaidNM

My parents are Grandma and Grandpa.  My in-laws are Nana and Fa.  My father in law wanted his grandchildren to call him Grandfather but all my niece could manage was Fa.  Now everyone calls him Fa.  It is exceptionally funny to me because he is such a sucker for his grandkids.

I was worried that my mom was going to want to be Nana since that is what we called her mom and my MIL already was Nana but when my sister had her baby, my mom became Grandma with no problem.  It is silly but it was a big relief for me.

morrigan08

my parents are still working on it..

DH is half greek (his dad is full greek) so his parents are going by yiayia and papou

amiserip

I think what the grandparents request is fine as long as you didn't have something else in mind.  My parents will be called Granny and Grandpa.  My inlaws will be called either Nana or Vita (nickname from abuelita)...not sure for FIL.

LaurelBee

two-pink-shoes:

Let the grandparents pick.

 

Let the kids pick!  I know of a family whose mom was "too young" to be grandma, so they wanted to be Gramiere and Grandpiere (French I think?) Well, baby called them Gong and Old Gong 

KittahMama

I had to laugh reading some of these cause it reminded me- my nephew couldn't say my brother's name (Jason) but he knew who he was.  My brother is bald so I said "Just call him uncle bald bald" and sure enough he played parrot and started calling him "Unka Bald Bald"... a few months later it was "Unka bald bald Jasin" and now it is just Uncle Jason- but I loved Uncle Bald Bald..

cassianddavid

DH and I both call all our grandparents Grandma and Grandpa. My cousin's kids call their great grandparents G.G and G.Pa. I think our LO will call the grandparents whatever variation of the word they come up with. I think the two that your FIL came up with are a great way to be different from the norm!

bigalb25

i wanted my parents to go with Meme and Pepe because it was so easy when we were younger to have a Grandma/Grandpa and a Meme/Pepe.  Instead of the Grandma/Grandpa Last Name, like my husband does.  But my mom said no.  so....whatever they want is fine.  A lady at work decided her grandkid would call them PB and Pops.  I have no idea what PB stands for, but it's cute.  But my nephew has taken to calling my FIL Papa instead of grandpa, so....i don't know what's going on.  i say let the grandparents decide, but the kids might change it anyway.  ya never know.

GreysGirl

I think you should call them whatever you and they like

My parents are going to be grammy and granpy

My MIL is going to be nana because she is already nana to my SIL's kids.

naylon511

LaurelBee:

two-pink-shoes:

Let the grandparents pick.

 

Let the kids pick!  I know of a family whose mom was "too young" to be grandma, so they wanted to be Gramiere and Grandpiere (French I think?) Well, baby called them Gong and Old Gong 

That's awesome!  I also agree to just let the kid decide - esp. when it's the first on that side.  That's what we always did in my family and my Mom and Dad are "Samma" and "Grumpy".  Our baby will be the first on DHs side so I hope they go with the flow and go by whatever our kiddo comes up with.

You do risk a funny name though, my sister is "Kate" and my nephew called her "Auntie Cake" for years.  She only sometimes goes by it now  

ZooBaby2010

This has been a huge debate with my grandma.  My mom is English so she was planning to go by Granny.  But on my dad's side Granny is for great-grands. I personally hate the name Granny.  I just sounds so OLD to me and my grandma & mom are so young to me. 

We grew up calling my grandparents Bumpa and Grammie.  I told my grandma that we would continue to use those names when they became great-grands.  She was SO bummed.  She wanted to be Granny. 

We're going to call our parents (his & mine) Grandma and Grandpa.  Unless the kids come up with their own names.  My parents don't like Nana and Pop Pop or any of those names. 

HeyTeach21

My mom chose GiGi and my dad is thinking about Papa or Pops.., DH's mom doesn't really care what she's called (however, she's verrrrry Irish.... and I'm pulling for 'McGram'.....)

yogisunam

two-pink-shoes:

Let the grandparents pick.

Agreed. 

My mom was really passionate about picking her "name." She settled on "Nana"...pronounced "Nah-na"

CoastieWife08

My daughter chose.  Kids will end up using the words they want to use.

She calls my dad pop-pop and his girlfriend "banban" (gf calls herself nana and DD thinks she's saying "banana" lol).

She calls my mom "grandma" and hasn't called my stepdad anything yet.  My mom wanted to be called "MeeMaw", but DD wants nothing to do with that.

As for DH's parents, she calls his mom "grandma" and nothing for FIL.

moonrose2715

MIL will be Noni (pronounced sort of like nor-nee)- Italian for grandma

FIL will probably just be grandpa Kenny

my mom will be nonnie (pronounced non-nee) because that is what she called her beloved grandmother

my dad will probably be grandpa Dennis

I figure between the grandparents request and what the kid actually comes up with, anything is fine with me.

lalalalindsy

I think it would be adorable for LO to call his parents Taid & Nain because they actually are Welsh.  I'm not thrilled when people just choose it because the like the sound of it, but in this circumstance, it sounds like a great plan!

Mrsalt027

My maternal grandparents are from Ireland and we call them mom-mom and pop-pop. Just a suggestion.

BuckeyeBride200

My step-mom is Filipino. I guess the word for grandma is "Lola," so that's what she'll be called. I think it's cute. Jury's still out on my dad.

rachelle_paige82

My parents are going with "Gigi" and "Grandad."  I thought Grandma and Grandpa were too boring

Mini_Mariah

I like Taid and Nain - it's really cool that they have ideas based on their culture. 

Our view is we'll call them all grandma and grandpa, and let our LOs figure out what names they want to use.  DH's nephews call FIL "Bapa" and step-MIL "Beh beh" - just the names the oldest came up with.  Beh Beh sounds so dumb from an 8-year old's mouth.  They don't even try to call her Grandma.  step-MIL tried to have DD call her Beh beh too but we keep saying "Grandma" and we'll let DD figure out what she wants to call her.  Bapa has stuck, for all three grandpas (my dad, his dad, and his stepdad).  I don't mind that as much because at least it sounds like Grandpa.  She calls my mom "Ma Ga" which I think is cute - she just came up with it recently.  She tends to reverse syllables in words for some reason. 

bedebum13

DH's parents will be Grandma and PopPop

My mom will be Boopy and my step father popPop Kevin I guess - I'm not really sure - my mom and step father haven't taken much of an interest in anything baby related.

eSynergy

I like the welsh names! I don't know what my parents will be called (I told them they can decide). DH's parents are already called Granny and Grand-dad by their other grand children, so we'll stick with that.

metzy144

My parent's will be Grammy and Papa and DH's parents will be Grandma and Grandpa.

rrgrout

My parents are nana and papa and the inlaws are grammie and grandpa...they pretty much decided what they wanted to be called though. We didn't really get to decide!

sdtchica13

joelen&louis:

It's easy for us because of our culture (Filipino).

MIL will be referred to as "Lola" - means grandma in Tagalog
FIL will be referred to as "Lolo" - means grandpa in Tagalog
My mom will be referred to as "Bae/Ba-eh" - means grandma in my parents'  Filipino dialect
My dad will be referred to as "Laki/La-key" - means grandpa in my parents'  Filipino dialect

 

Awwww, thats so cute! I LOVE Lolo and Lola especially, cause I can totally picture a teeny one saying that!

Off topic, but you will appreciate this. One of my good friends is American but her husband is half Filipino and his mom is Filipino (that's the half, lol). When they got their puppy a few years ago, they named her Kiki and didnt think anything of it. Well, the first time they told her H's mom that the puppy's name was Kiki, she nearly had heart failure, since it apparently means "vagina" in Tagalog, LOL!