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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat 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?
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)My mother's grandmother was known as "Grandma Susie"..... I suppose that is what I would have called her, too.
Flashmann
(2,140 posts)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)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.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)840high
(17,196 posts)ConcernedCanuk
(13,509 posts).
.
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CC
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Locut0s
(6,154 posts)Although I didn't really like saying that. I sure do wish I would have had a few more years to say it, though.
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.
Wait Wut
(8,492 posts)Called her Nanno. She was a horrible person and lived to be 94.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)Grandma and Grandpa.
I called my Mom's mother: Nonni.
LancetChick
(272 posts)Grandfathers: Grandpa (alcoholic asshole) and Grandpa Ford (I'd only met him twice)
redqueen
(115,096 posts)I thought it was her name at first.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)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.
datasuspect
(26,591 posts)wrinkly bank
BainsBane
(53,003 posts)Kali
(54,990 posts)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"
redqueen
(115,096 posts)sakabatou
(42,083 posts)Xithras
(16,191 posts)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)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.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Ptah
(32,983 posts)We called her Grandma H******.
Here I am in Her Daughter's {my maternal grandmother} lap:
great picture
olddots
(10,237 posts)Never met any of them and I imagine they never met each other .
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)IrishEyes
(3,275 posts)I called mine grandma (last name) and grandpa (last name).
redqueen
(115,096 posts)Neat.
Loryn
(941 posts)Call my parents Great Grandma & Great Papa.
snappyturtle
(14,656 posts)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)Or my maternal grandfather by blood. My grandma left him so the only Grandpa I knew was her second husband.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)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.
susanr516
(1,425 posts)winter is coming
(11,785 posts)In the family we refer to them as Grandma or Grandpa plus their first name, i.e., Grandpa Jack.
Boomerproud
(7,890 posts)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)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
HeiressofBickworth
(2,682 posts)My granddaughter called my mother (her great-grandmother) GeeGee.
redqueen
(115,096 posts)That's cool.
I find these affectionate nicknames for loved ones so sweet and interesting.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)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)which is Norwegian for Grandfather.
JitterbugPerfume
(18,183 posts)my great grands call me Grandma Midgie!(I love it)
mainstreetonce
(4,178 posts)That is what my mother in law wanted her great grandchildren to call her.
It is easy and worked Ok
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)as an example.
Response to redqueen (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
greatauntoftriplets
(175,700 posts)LWolf
(46,179 posts)Nikia
(11,411 posts)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).
FBN
(1 post)Opa en Oma!
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Hayabusa
(2,135 posts)and I always used to call her Nanny.