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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think Grandma Daddy is just odd

49 replies

Annya · 03/02/2011 14:19

or perhaps there are loads of them out there? A friend has decided her daughter will call her grandparents (and there are 4, to be fair) Grandma Mummy (for the Mum's mum), Grandma Daddy (for the Dad's Mum) and Grandma Firstname and Grandma Firstname for two "step" Grannies.

I would hate to be called Grandma Daddy by any grandchild of mine. What is wrong with just using other names like Nan or Nana or whatever?

OP posts:
bubblewrapped · 03/02/2011 14:21

jeezus... how bloody confusing...

what is wrong with Nanny Gertrude (insert real name there)... Grandad Fred.. etc...

PaperView · 03/02/2011 14:25

We have Nana and Grandad, Granny and Grandad HisRealName

thefurryone · 03/02/2011 14:39

Sounds like a minefield, is it likely that your friend is feeling under pressure (real or imaginary) from the GPs to distinguish between the grandparents and stepgrandparents?

Is the child born yet? If not it's likely that they won't actually sort out names that will work for them once the child is born.

gizzy1973 · 03/02/2011 14:41

we have nanny and grandad, nanny t(name) and nanny h(name)
at the moment it seems to work although lo is only 1

LizaTarbucksAuntie · 03/02/2011 14:42

littlemad calls DP's parents (his stepgrandparents I guess) Auntie and Uncle

I wonder if there is pressure to distinguish as well in which case, the when the child is born they will have a fine old time upsetting that particular apple cart.

ashamedandconfused · 03/02/2011 14:46

grandma daddy Shock what is wrong with people?!

there are loads of derivatives to choose from - or my friends kids call their 2 sets of GPs grandma/dad SURNAME, and others do it by their first name, as in Nanny gertrude above

on a serious note i would steer clear of things like "grandma mummy" as that sounds like a situation round here where the dad married his MIL and granny mum is what the kids now call their granny/step mum, which is all a bit bleurgh IMO

elegangle · 03/02/2011 14:49

My kids decided that mine were to be curly Grandma and Grandad and straight Grandma and Grandad...after their hair obviously. Unfortunately Straight Grandad is no longer with us, it always amused me when they would shout out his name....I can only imagine that people would assume the other Grandad was bent!

potplant · 03/02/2011 14:50

We use grandad x and grandad y to distinguish between them when talking about them - unless they are there when it's obvious which one it is.

I suppose try are trying to distinguish between 'real' grandma and 'step' grandma. Very confusing.

potplant · 03/02/2011 14:53

Grin at 'straight grandad'.

Actually my dad was trumpy grandad for a while, for obvious reasons.

Bogeyface · 03/02/2011 14:54

My dad got my son calling my grandad (so DS's great grandad) Grandad Jane (not her real name) because when he went to see Grandad Jane, he saw Jane there, my cousins daughter.

He said it was to save confusion from having 2 Grandad Smiths, but it wasnt confusing at all! He called them simply Grandad when he was with them, and Grandad and Great Grandad when referring to them. It really peed me off!

butterpieify · 03/02/2011 14:54

We have/had: Nana and Papa (was originally Grandpa, but she couldn't say that for some reason) and Grandad Jack (my grandparents), Gran (DHs Gran), Granny and Grandad (my parents), Grandma and Granda (DHs parents, although, sometimes both our dads just get called Grandad-insert-description-of-something-they-own-or-do, so we have Grandad round the corner and Grandad motorbike and so on- they were both going to be grandad, but DH's family are Geordie, so Granda is starting to evolve as she copies what he calls himself)

Then we have Aunties who are related, Aunties who aren't related, anyone younger than anyone else is their "baby", and so on. It gets very complex, but we know who we mean :) We have several uncles and aunties with the same names, but somehow we know.

bronze · 03/02/2011 14:56

Theres no many options though. Granny, Grandma, Nana, Nanny and then either surnames or first names too. Grandma Daddy is just odd.

We had Mamgu

livinginazoo · 03/02/2011 14:57

Are they from elsewhere in Europe. For example in Scandianvia grandparents are called "father's mother/father' (farmor/farfar), "mother's father/mother" (morfar/mormor) etc etc. Which is much less confusing than having to decide who becomes granny, grandma etc.

EricNorthmansMistress · 03/02/2011 14:59

Weird. Grandad mummy even weirder.

COCKadoodledooo · 03/02/2011 14:59

How very odd.

My nieces have 2 Nannas, Nanna S and Nanna P. Has never caused any confusion.

My boys have Nanna and Bumpy (my parents) and Granny & Grandad. They're ok with that, but I sometimes have to stop and think because I had the same names in different pairings as I grew up!

Quenelle · 03/02/2011 15:00

Grandma Daddy is odd. Why not Grandma Firstname?

We let the grandparents choose what they were to be called. Having said that DS is only 19mo and might still come up with his own names for them.

Happymummy2011 · 03/02/2011 15:00

My friend's son called her parents Granny and Granddad Sunshine because hey lived abroad and her husband's parents Granny and Granddad Cats and Dogs, in honour of their pets. Adorable.

EricNorthmansMistress · 03/02/2011 15:01

Bent Hmm nice.

butterpieify · 03/02/2011 15:01

Or go with my DD1s current fad, which is just explaining how everyone is related. So we get "When can we go and see my mummys mummy and my mummys daddy and mummys mummys mummy and mummys baby sister and her other tiny baby sister?"

(My "tiny baby sister" is 18 this month Hmm)

stillbobbysgirl · 03/02/2011 15:06

I think if you actually had time to sit down and work out this complex name directory for your kids to use, you really need to get a hobby as you have far too much time your hands!

What if the gandparents don't like the names that have been decreed for them? Do they HAVE to answer to them?

Different thing, but growing up we had loads of Marys in our family and friends. They were known as Mary Cuckoo, Big Mary, Little Mary, Farm Mary, Mary Guitar etc ...

ihearthuckabees · 03/02/2011 15:07

We used to call ours Big Granny/Grandpa and Wee Granny/Grandpa (based on height not girth!)

GloriaSmut · 03/02/2011 15:07

Sounds weird to me and I certainly wouldn't be keen on being called GrandmaDaddy.

The way things have worked out here (baby grand-daughter whose grandparents are all divorced) are:

Me ds2's mother - Nanny(myname)
My DP - Grandpa(hisname)
H ddil's mother) - Grandma
S ds2's father) Granddad
SK- ddil's father - GranddadSK

It's early days but we can't see a problem. Of course, when dgd gets old enough to decide what we are called, all this logical planning may well go straight out of the window!

ashamedandconfused · 03/02/2011 15:11

Eric - i read that as bent/straight, the everday meanings of those words, I'm not sure the poster was implying bent as a derogatory term for gay, which is what i think your comment means

I have seen lots of little old "bent" (stooped over) grandads

imustbemadasaboxoffrogs · 03/02/2011 15:14

We had Granny and Grandpa Farm (well that was XH parents - guess what they did?)

And My parents were called Granny Firstname and Grandpa Firstname

Until DC4. Who gave them the easy to say trips off the tongue moniker of..

Granny and Grandpa with the two dogs but not

diddl · 03/02/2011 15:16

Sounds really odd imo.

Couldn´t they all be "Grandma Firstname"?

If they already have 2 "Grandma Firstname", Or if they want that for the step GMs,couldn´t just be Gran/Granny/Nan/Nana/Nanny without firstname?

We have Gran, Nanny and for example London Grandad, Oxford Grandad.

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