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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:
BiscuitBotherer · 15/06/2025 09:59

CoffeeCantata · 15/06/2025 09:51

OP - it's not very classy to be a snob.

But to actually admit it in writing! Oh dear - not cool.

My mum used to say that it was very common to talk about anything being common.

This! Goodness me, who cares?

gamerchick · 15/06/2025 09:58

I'm grandma. I'd prefer granny. Other parent got nanna. That's the best one but it's reserved for daughter's kids. Sons kids get grandma.

I'd rather be nanna. It's easier for kids to say

CoffeeCantata · 15/06/2025 09:51

OP - it's not very classy to be a snob.

But to actually admit it in writing! Oh dear - not cool.

My mum used to say that it was very common to talk about anything being common.

Sharptonguedwoman · 15/06/2025 09:51

BatchCookBabe · 14/06/2025 20:10

It's up to her. Why do you care? I will be nana when (if) I have grandchildren. No way is anyone calling me granny! 😖

Can I ask why? Just curious about your preference.

MadKittenWoman · 15/06/2025 09:36

AcquadiP · 14/06/2025 20:20

One of the origins of Nana is believed to be the Italian word for Grandmother, 'Nonna.' In Sicilian and Greek it's 'Nanna.' How strange that anyone would consider use of the term 'Nana' to be a 'race to the bottom.'

If DS ever has a child, I will be Nonna.

Petitchat · 15/06/2025 07:47

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 14/06/2025 22:28

My mum had one of those. She got fed up with being asked when I was going to 'make her a granny' so she started saying she had a grandson called Harry and just didn't mention the 4 legs and fur!

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😁 😁 😁

Menobaby79 · 15/06/2025 06:37

I hate "nana" it makes me think of a goat.

user1476613140 · 15/06/2025 06:33

My mum is granny, DH's mum is grandma.

KickHimInTheCrotch · 15/06/2025 06:30

Grandma is my preference. I really dislike quirky adaptations of grandparent names.

TorroFerney · 15/06/2025 06:12

Nanny0gg · 14/06/2025 20:28

Hate to think where Nanny rates then...

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A nanny is a job though, or a goat. I had a nanny (not a real one I mean my grandma was was referred to as nanny). I was the youngest grandchild, I assume my cousins called her nanny but I am not sure. I didn't like it as no one else called their grandparent nanny.

Oblomov25 · 15/06/2025 05:41

I'm actually not keen on Granny. Dh's mum was Nanny 2 Dogs, then she was re-named Nanny Seaside. My mum is Nana. Who cares?

marmaladeandpeanutbutter · 15/06/2025 04:56

Plummeting towards the bottom??! Wow.

ThePigandPear · 15/06/2025 04:29

We were very basic middle and referred to one as Nooni and the other Flo!

Everyone's dead now, of course, and I didn't reproduce...but I do have a fine collection of Jellycat teddies with equally bonkers names. I plan to keep otters in my dotage, when my skittles start tippling.

Delphiniumandlupins · 15/06/2025 04:10

My only grandmother (maternal) was Nanna, so my mum was Nanna (for mine and my siblings' children). My sister and I have both asked to be called Nanna. Never spelt it with one 'n'. Other grandmothers in the family have gone with Grandma. All grandfathers have chosen Grandad. Not sure what it says about us?

WhereHasMyPlanetGone · 15/06/2025 03:46

CurlewKate · 15/06/2025 03:23

She’s not as “upper middle class” as she thinks she is!🤣

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She doesn’t think anything TBF, never heard her discuss what class she might be. That was just my observation based on ‘traditional’ class markers. She’s Nana because that’s what my eldest daughter decided to call her!

CurlewKate · 15/06/2025 03:23

WhereHasMyPlanetGone · 14/06/2025 20:25

The funny thing is my very working class mum is Granny to my children, and my upper middle class MIL is Nana!

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She’s not as “upper middle class” as she thinks she is!🤣

pilates · 15/06/2025 02:15

I want to be a granny one day 🤞
but I don’t see anything wrong with nanny or nan either.

Tourmalines · 15/06/2025 00:58

I’m a nana . No way would I want to be called Granny .I’ve never like that term. Granny is unattractive and unappealing .

Djmaggie · 15/06/2025 00:49

I’ve never known anyone called Granny. It seems quite old fashioned. We had a Grandma on one side and a Nan on the other. When I was pregnant, I asked my Mum what she wanted to be called and she was firmly ominous the Grandma camp.

Duckduck2 · 15/06/2025 00:38

I called my grandparents Nanny/Nan and mine also calls theirs Nanny and Nana.

One definitely didn’t want to be Granny as it sounded old to them, they were a grandparent at 43.

FiftynFooked · 15/06/2025 00:29

I always thought it was regional. I’m midlands and the majority of grandparents are known as Nan and Grandad. And we all have Moms not Mums!

RegimentalSturgeon · 15/06/2025 00:09

Happily, the question hasn’t arisen and now won’t, but I’d have hated to be granny, nan, nanna or nanny. Gran, or at a pinch grandma. The offsprog’s names for me vary according to the weather, but I rather like ‘Muvvah’.

MferMonsterSearchingForRedemption · 14/06/2025 23:52

I’m a Granny as that’s what I wanted to be called. I was a Granny at 40!

WearyAuldWumman · 14/06/2025 23:51

Haho · 14/06/2025 23:44

My mum is an utter snob. She told me that nanny was very common (I remember coming home from infants school and asking her who my nanny was, since I had been asked and didn’t know this word). To her, ugh!, nanny is along lines of serviette and settee and holding your knife like a pen.

I can’t shake that association of “nanny, ugh! So common!” (Unless by nanny, a childminder is meant.)

But I do think the attempt to rebrand nanny as nonna is hilariously bad, and exactly the sort of nonsense my mum might suggest. Sorry OP!

Some of my relatives have a Nanny on their mother's side and a Nonna on their father's. Mother's side of the family is Scottish; the father's side is Italian.

Haho · 14/06/2025 23:44

My mum is an utter snob. She told me that nanny was very common (I remember coming home from infants school and asking her who my nanny was, since I had been asked and didn’t know this word). To her, ugh!, nanny is along lines of serviette and settee and holding your knife like a pen.

I can’t shake that association of “nanny, ugh! So common!” (Unless by nanny, a childminder is meant.)

But I do think the attempt to rebrand nanny as nonna is hilariously bad, and exactly the sort of nonsense my mum might suggest. Sorry OP!

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