Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What is wrong with Granny?

418 replies

Jane958 · 14/06/2025 20:05

Both my grannies were Granny.
My mother was Granny.
My sister has chosen Nana, why?
Is this an indication of how far we are plummeting towards the bottom?

OP posts:
Wreckinball · 14/06/2025 21:58

We have a Grannie and a Nanna

Lostworlds · 14/06/2025 21:58

I don’t understand the issue! My mum is a nana simply because my granny is still alive so my mum wanted her own sort of identity. Plus most grandmothers want something different from the other grandmother!

TheAmusedQuail · 14/06/2025 21:58

I also think it's a bit of a class thing. Posh = granny. Working class = nanny/nana.

bridgetreilly · 14/06/2025 21:57

Nana was my great grandmother. That’s what my mother called her, as her grandmother. Starting in 1949. So I don’t think this is an indication of anything.

Applesonthelawn · 14/06/2025 21:57

Isn't it just regional? In my family they've been Nana for generations.

mumof2many1943 · 14/06/2025 21:55

I am Grandma, however my maternal grandmother was Babushka (Russian)!! My paternal grandmother was Nanny.

Gongpostal · 14/06/2025 21:55

I'm nana to my grandchildren because, I'm quite a young grandmother and my mum and mother in law are still alive so they are grandma and nanny respectively as that what my kids called them. My grandchildrens other grandmothers are also nana but followed by their name. It for me was easy for them to say and not to confuse them by their mother calling her grandparents by the same name! No class issue involved! Just affection.

WonderingWanda · 14/06/2025 21:54

We have a Nana on one side and a Granny on the other, both just said what they would prefer to be called and their choice was entirely based on what their own mothers and grandmother's were called. I had a Nana and a Nanny when I was growing up.

EleanorReally · 14/06/2025 21:53

i think Nan is more common <<ducks>>

Charlize43 · 14/06/2025 21:53

Oh yes, we have no nanas... we have no nanas today.

luckylavender · 14/06/2025 21:53

Jane958 · 14/06/2025 20:05

Both my grannies were Granny.
My mother was Granny.
My sister has chosen Nana, why?
Is this an indication of how far we are plummeting towards the bottom?

What’s wrong with Nana? I find people really snobbish about it.

ACR7 · 14/06/2025 21:52

This is just personal preference. I had two nannas growing up. We have a daughter now and we let each choose what they wanted to be called. My mam went for nanna and mil went for grandma. It’s a non issue.

WearyAuldWumman · 14/06/2025 21:52

As a step-gran, I wasn't allowed to have an honorific - only my forename. However, the grandmothers on my mum's side of the family are all "Nanny", a tradition first started by my grandmother whose first grandchildren were born in the 1950s.

On the Eastern European side of the family, great-aunts are also grandmothers...so over there I get to be Baba or Baba Weary.

Notashamed13 · 14/06/2025 21:50

We have a Gran Gran and a Nanny.....who cares what they are known as? as long as small person understands!

DBSFstupid · 14/06/2025 21:50

Jane958 · 14/06/2025 20:05

Both my grannies were Granny.
My mother was Granny.
My sister has chosen Nana, why?
Is this an indication of how far we are plummeting towards the bottom?

What are you talking about?
I had my beloved Nana and I'm in my 60's.

Shetlands · 14/06/2025 21:49

lizzielizard · 14/06/2025 21:37

Me too. I love being called Granny and I'm not old or walk with a stick. Definitely wouldn't ever want to be called any of the N words.

Show quote history

I'm a Granny in my early 70s, wear jeans, have blonde hair, can't knit or bake and I wouldn't be seen dead in Crimplene or reading a Woman's Weekly!

BlueSkiesInJuly · 14/06/2025 21:48

I had a granny and a nana.

Conveniently their surnames matched the first letter.

For example Nana Nigelson and Granny Grenson. That's literally what I called them 😂. Not to their faces, then they were just Nana and Granny. I feel like it would have been too confusing to have two grannies or nanas. Actually never thought about it!

ForeverDelayedEpiphany · 14/06/2025 21:48

Justrestingmyeyes1 · 14/06/2025 21:42

My parents were nanny and grandad and PIL are grandma and grandpa. This is what they wanted to be called.
Both me and my DIL’s mum are Nanny to our grandson and my DH is grandad. He called my mum
’Nanny+her first name’ and calls my husbands parents granny and grandpa.
I love being a Nanny 😀

We have this too, with my parents being Grandma and Grandpa, and my PIL being Nan and Grandad. I'd say the named are well suited to both sets of parents. For some reason, I always think of my parents being slightly younger at heart and somehow suiting their names more.

U53rn8m3ch8ng3 · 14/06/2025 21:47

I have a Nana, she's pushing 90 now so hardly a new concept. I also had a Granny and a Grandma (blended family). My mum is Grannie to my DD and my MIL is Nannie to her.

Jaggy1 · 14/06/2025 21:47

My son has a gran, a nana, a nannie, a papa & a pappy!

I myself only ever had a grandma and a grandad

sugarapplelane · 14/06/2025 21:47

I had a Nanna, but absolutely hated it when my cousins would call her Nan instead. I thought it sounded awful.
My DD has a Granny and a Grandma.
I’m not sure what I would want to be called when my DD has children. My friend is a Grammy and I quite like that.

Gyozas · 14/06/2025 21:47

I don’t know why, and I’m sure this will be widely criticised, but ‘Granny’ sounds old and wrinkly, possibly a bit stooped, but kindly. ‘Grandma’ seems friendlier. But equally could apply to a bit of an old crone, possibly because of ‘Grandmama’. ‘Nana’ is a Newfoundland, but is also quite a cosy, chubby grandma who knits. ‘Nan’ is just common. 🫢

NotPerfectlyAdverage · 14/06/2025 21:46

AutumnArrow · 14/06/2025 20:09

Granny conjures images of a very elderly granny personally. Our DC call their great grandmother granny and their grandmother's nana and nanny. Grandads are gramps and grampa.

That's why mil, dm and step mil all refused to be called granny. They see themselves as hip and young and also two of them have nothing to do with the kids anyway as travelling the globe. Should have asked to be referred to as cousins 🙄

JHound · 14/06/2025 21:46

My family has always had “Nana” and “Nanny”.

”Grandma” is for great-grandmothers.

CautiousLurker01 · 14/06/2025 21:45

My grandmothers were Dadijaan (urdu for paternal grandmother) and Ouma (dutch/Afrikaans) for my South African grandmother. Both refused to be called ‘nanny’ as that referred to an employed childcare professional. My kids call their UK grandma Nanny, though. I hope to be Ouma when/if my time comes.