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redqueen

(115,096 posts)
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 11:23 AM Apr 2013

What did/do you call your great grandparents?

I was thinking of my Papaw today, when someone on the radio said something something Comanche, cause he was half Comanche.

I only knew my mom's grandparents, and we called them Mamaw and Papaw. That got me thinking it was kinda close to Sheldon's Meemaw. And that got me wondering about other names for great grandparents. But I think that's sheldon's grandma, but anyway... care to share?

53 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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What did/do you call your great grandparents? (Original Post) redqueen Apr 2013 OP
I never knew them. femmocrat Apr 2013 #1
What did/do you call your great grandparents? Flashmann Apr 2013 #2
Only knew 3 of them tabbycat31 Apr 2013 #3
dead. Tuesday Afternoon Apr 2013 #4
Ditto! ohiosmith Apr 2013 #24
yes 840high Apr 2013 #33
+1 ConcernedCanuk Apr 2013 #36
Yep. Arugula Latte Apr 2013 #42
This. My grandfather is a great grandfather, but not MY great grandfather. nt. Locut0s Apr 2013 #53
Maw. dawg Apr 2013 #5
Yeah... redqueen Apr 2013 #6
Only knew my mother's grandmother. Wait Wut Apr 2013 #7
I called my Dad's parents: bigwillq Apr 2013 #8
Grandmothers: Nonny and Gommy LancetChick Apr 2013 #9
I knew someone who had a great grandmother they called Nonny. redqueen Apr 2013 #18
Let's see: Populist_Prole Apr 2013 #10
funding source datasuspect Apr 2013 #11
Grandma, Grandma Becky and Grandpa Joe BainsBane Apr 2013 #12
my father's father's parents were Mamaw and Papaw (short a, like cat on first sylable) Kali Apr 2013 #13
Same as mine, with the short a. nt redqueen Apr 2013 #17
All of them were dead before I knew them. sakabatou Apr 2013 #14
Maymeo Xithras Apr 2013 #15
On my side, Everyone was/is Grandma and Grandpa OriginalGeek Apr 2013 #16
Never called them anything. They were dead before I was born. n/t RebelOne Apr 2013 #19
Great-Grandma Brown. I only met her a few times and she died when I was 11. nomorenomore08 Apr 2013 #20
My great grandmother, mother of my mother's mother. Ptah Apr 2013 #21
Aw... redqueen Apr 2013 #29
On my mother's side Super wasps-- on my father's side Left wing Jews olddots Apr 2013 #22
I didn't know any of them. In_The_Wind Apr 2013 #23
My friend called hers grandpap, maamaw, papaw, and grannie. IrishEyes Apr 2013 #25
Another Maamaw and Papaw. redqueen Apr 2013 #30
My great niece & nephew Loryn Apr 2013 #26
Never knew them...all I know is what my mother told me about them. snappyturtle Apr 2013 #27
I never knew my paternal grandparents. redqueen Apr 2013 #31
A Civil War veteran kwassa Apr 2013 #28
They had all died before I was born nt susanr516 Apr 2013 #32
They died before I was old enough to call them anything. winter is coming Apr 2013 #34
My great-grandparents were all gone way before I was born Boomerproud Apr 2013 #35
Never met 'em. Iggo Apr 2013 #37
They were gone before I came along HeiressofBickworth Apr 2013 #38
GeeGee ... redqueen Apr 2013 #41
Jack and Nanny. Chan790 Apr 2013 #39
Never knew any of them, but my mother called her grandfather "Bestefar" The Velveteen Ocelot Apr 2013 #40
I never knew them BUT JitterbugPerfume Apr 2013 #43
GG mainstreetonce Apr 2013 #44
Dead. Long dead. One of my paternal ggparents was a civil war veteran. alphafemale Apr 2013 #45
Message auto-removed Name removed Apr 2013 #46
I only knew one grandparent and the great-grandparents were long dead before I appeared. greatauntoftriplets Apr 2013 #47
I never met them. nt LWolf Apr 2013 #48
I had three great grandmothers who all died when I was in high school Nikia Apr 2013 #49
I called them... FBN Apr 2013 #50
Welcome to DU my friend! hrmjustin Apr 2013 #51
Only had my great-grandmother alive Hayabusa Apr 2013 #52

femmocrat

(28,394 posts)
1. I never knew them.
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 11:25 AM
Apr 2013

My mother's grandmother was known as "Grandma Susie"..... I suppose that is what I would have called her, too.

Flashmann

(2,140 posts)
2. What did/do you call your great grandparents?
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 11:36 AM
Apr 2013

Late 50s-mid 60s,in my family,we kids used Great Gramma/Grandpa for the initial "hello" of a visit.Afterward,just Gramma/Grandpa.

tabbycat31

(6,336 posts)
3. Only knew 3 of them
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 11:37 AM
Apr 2013

My dad's grandmother (who died when I was 6) was called Granny Franny and my mom's grandparents (died when I was 15 and 21) were called Grandpa Howard and Grammie Ida.

dawg

(10,610 posts)
5. Maw.
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 11:43 AM
Apr 2013

Although I didn't really like saying that. I sure do wish I would have had a few more years to say it, though.

redqueen

(115,096 posts)
6. Yeah...
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 11:46 AM
Apr 2013

I have nice memories of their old home, and later of Mamaw when she lived with my grandma, after Papaw died.

I'm starting to think this making up names thing is maybe not as common as I thought.

LancetChick

(272 posts)
9. Grandmothers: Nonny and Gommy
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 12:06 PM
Apr 2013

Grandfathers: Grandpa (alcoholic asshole) and Grandpa Ford (I'd only met him twice)

Populist_Prole

(5,364 posts)
10. Let's see:
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 12:42 PM
Apr 2013

My mother's parents:

Grandmother: "Gram"

Grandfather: "O.D." His initials. Everybody in the family called him that, no matter the age.

Grandmother's mother: "Small Gram" She was short. It was not meant out of disrespect; it's just all we ever knew her by.

Never knew my father's parents/grands: They died young before I was born.

Kali

(54,990 posts)
13. my father's father's parents were Mamaw and Papaw (short a, like cat on first sylable)
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 01:32 PM
Apr 2013

barely met them as a child but my father and his parents used the terms for them when talking about them all my life. His mother referred to her parents as Mother and Father (and the mother died very young)

On my Mom's side I think they called her father's parents by their full names, and I do not remember them. Her mother's parents were deceased by the time I was born and Grandma called them Mother and Father.

we called my paternal grandparents Grandma first name and Grandpa last name (usually pronounced gram, rather than grand)
maternal grandparents were the same or just Gramma and Grampa - but when he was scolding us kids he would use Granddad. "Grandad doesn't want to scold you, but if your Grandmother saw you up on that windmill she would take your hide off"

Xithras

(16,191 posts)
15. Maymeo
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 01:49 PM
Apr 2013

That's a guess on the spelling, but my great grandmother was Irish, and she preferred the Irish word for grandma. She was "Maymeo Colleen" until she died at 104 years old.

Interestingly, one of my grandmothers is still alive, as is one of my wifes. My kids simply call them "grandma". It's not something we specifically taught them, but my wife and I refer to them as "grandma" because they are our own grandparents, and our kids just picked up on it. They know the difference, but don't draw any distinction with the names.

OriginalGeek

(12,132 posts)
16. On my side, Everyone was/is Grandma and Grandpa
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 01:50 PM
Apr 2013

with a last name tacked on if it wasn't obvious who we meant. My grandma's mom was the only great-grandparent I knew and she died when I was maybe 4 or 5 so I guess we never got much of a chance to call her anything other than grandma-_______

My kids called my wife's parents gram and grandad and our grandkids call us gramma and pawpaw.

Ptah

(32,983 posts)
21. My great grandmother, mother of my mother's mother.
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 05:22 PM
Apr 2013

We called her Grandma H******.

Here I am in Her Daughter's {my maternal grandmother} lap:

 

olddots

(10,237 posts)
22. On my mother's side Super wasps-- on my father's side Left wing Jews
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 05:29 PM
Apr 2013

Never met any of them and I imagine they never met each other .

IrishEyes

(3,275 posts)
25. My friend called hers grandpap, maamaw, papaw, and grannie.
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 10:37 PM
Apr 2013

I called mine grandma (last name) and grandpa (last name).

snappyturtle

(14,656 posts)
27. Never knew them...all I know is what my mother told me about them.
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 10:54 PM
Apr 2013

Never knew my paternal grandmorther either. She had passed away six
yrs. before I was born. You've posed an interesting question. I now wonder,
thanks to you, what I would have called them!

redqueen

(115,096 posts)
31. I never knew my paternal grandparents.
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 11:05 PM
Apr 2013

Or my maternal grandfather by blood. My grandma left him so the only Grandpa I knew was her second husband.

kwassa

(23,340 posts)
28. A Civil War veteran
Fri Apr 26, 2013, 10:58 PM
Apr 2013

Augustus

He died 39 years before I was born, on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

He died at Gettysburg, at the reunion. Heart attack.

winter is coming

(11,785 posts)
34. They died before I was old enough to call them anything.
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 12:05 AM
Apr 2013

In the family we refer to them as Grandma or Grandpa plus their first name, i.e., Grandpa Jack.

Boomerproud

(7,890 posts)
35. My great-grandparents were all gone way before I was born
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 12:44 AM
Apr 2013

but my mom is a great-grandma and her great-grandkids just call her "Grandma". Funny story: When he was about four years old, the oldest great-grandchild called my mom "Grandma" and my SIL (his grandmother) said "Well, she's Grandma, than who am I?", and Jeremy rolled his eyes and said "You're my REGULAR grandma, of course."


My great-grandparents came from Germany so I probably would have called them Nona and Papa.

Iggo

(47,489 posts)
37. Never met 'em.
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 01:28 AM
Apr 2013

There's a cool depression era pic of him* (with all twelve of his kids) in dozens of my extended families' homes, though. Dude's lookin straight through the camera. Kinda spooky when I was little, but kinda cool now that I'm old.

*"him" = my dad's grandpa

 

Chan790

(20,176 posts)
39. Jack and Nanny.
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 08:14 AM
Apr 2013

Those were their names. For that matter I called my grandparents (all 6 of them) by their names. My parents were also called by their names until some old woman seriously kvetched out my mother for it in Shop-Rite when I was 6 or 7 that it was disrespectful and destroying the moral-fabric of America and that was how the godless Soviets were going to take over America. (This was the Reagan years.) My stepfather has only ever been called by his name. All my aunts and uncles: names.

We're not real big on things like "aunt", "uncle", "grandma", "grandpa", "mom", "dad". My biological father is "that asshole" but that's because he is and doesn't warrant the use of an name.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,281 posts)
40. Never knew any of them, but my mother called her grandfather "Bestefar"
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 09:52 AM
Apr 2013

which is Norwegian for Grandfather.

Response to redqueen (Original post)

Nikia

(11,411 posts)
49. I had three great grandmothers who all died when I was in high school
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 09:21 PM
Apr 2013

I also had one great grandfather when I was born, but he died when I was fairly young. I called the great grandma (last name).

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