Following on from ‘do you know your grandparents’ names?’*, I’m now interested in what you call/called your grandparents. By the time I was born I still had two grandfathers and called one of them Granda and one of them Grandpa, whereas my fiancée still has two living grandmothers and calls them both nan. I say that’s confusing giving them both the same name, she says I’m weird. So as ever, we shall let the good folk of RYL decide.
For charity I’m interested in how you would name them when talking about them, e.g. ‘I’ll send grandpa a Christmas card’. Feel free to comment to add more info.
*this was several years ago, so I’ll forgive you if you’ve forgotten this :P
I have two 'nannys' and a deceased grandad.
And my other grandad's wife I call by her first name (even though they've been together since before I was born, same with nannys husband) and my step dad's parents I call by their first names.
I'm fine! Totally fine. I don't know why it's coming out all loud and squeaky, 'cause really, I'm fine!
I have a nana, and a grandad who's passed away. On the other side I have my grandma who, as a child, I called grandma. I used to call my grandads 'grandad *name*' to make the distinction.
Weirdly, my mum and uncle have called my grandparents (their parents) by their first names since the day dot. It didn't seem odd back when I was a child, but I can't imagine calling my parents by their first names, especially as a child.
Sadly for me my grandparents bar my dad's mum died before I was born. I refer to my mum's mum as grandma but I called my dad's mum Nana when she was alive. I rarely refer to my grandads but when I do it's "your dad" rather than anything else.
Wannabe CPN : -)
"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life." - Homer Simpson "I hear those voices that will not be drowned" Sanity is a nasty disease. The world would be a happier place without it. - Rilic
RIP Kat 4th July 1987- 11th June 2013
My one grandmother (my mother's mother) that I was always close and lived near us was Grandma. I never had any grandfathers, they both died before I was born. I know my dad's stepfather we called by his first name. Honestly even his bio children and grandchildren also called him by his first name. He was a bit terrifying. My other grandmother died when I was young and we did not see her often. I think she was Grandma Lastname. So it was just, "I'm going over to Grandma's house," or, "Are we going to visit Grandma Lastname this year." [Obviously Lastname is just a privacy thing to not post their real last names]
Otherwise all I remember is that my mother and grandmother referred to my grandfather as Mr. Lastname which I've always found odd. My dad never really talked about his father other than to say he died when he was quite young.
For a comparison, my stepsister's children call their grandparents Granny Firstname for differentiation. Their great-grandmother was just Granny. Again for some reason nobody has any grandfathers that I am aware of.
I'm in the US, also, if this difference matters for your query, Jenna.
Please do not give me virtual hugs unless you are only using the hug function on threads. Thanks.
You can't always keep it separate.
This is happening, this is part of you.
I called both sets Oma and Opa when addressing them.
When I talked about them my family used last names or sometimes location. Not sure what to pick on the poll. Maybe the first option?
I only have one grandpa who is still alive. My mums mum and dad are/were gran and grandpa fog because when I was about 18 months old, I saw a frog in their garden and got all excited and shouted “fog, fog!” The name stuck, even my brother and sister referred to them as that even though they weren’t born when the name came about.
My dads mum and dad were gran and grandpa Alan because Alan is the only one of my cousins that is older than me on both sides of my family, and he stayed with them quite a lot because my aunt was a single parent until he was about 10 and she met my uncle.
