to ask what grandparent names you use (in light of frustrating lunchtime experience)

[5Foot5]

So what happened was, among the 17 or so other jobs I was trying to squeeze in to my lunch hour, I had to buy two "Grandma and Grandad" cards for DD to send. Yes she would normally take care of this herself and will no doubt pay me back for them, but she is at school all day and there is a particular urgency for one of the cards. It needs posting soon and we want to put it inside our card to save on stamps.

Anyway I found the relevant section only to be confronted by a plethora of cards to "Nan and Grandad" or "Nanna and Grandad". I scanned the rack in growing frustration but the only "Grandma and Grandad" I could find was a large letter size so would have to be posted separately, which would cost nearly as much as the card itself. (Well I was in Card Factory)

At last, when I was about to give up in despair I found just one card of the right size for people with Grandmas not Nans or Nannas. So with at least a dozen choices for this Nanna person there was only one large and one small design for Grandma.

Now this I find hard to understand. I don't know anyone who has a Nanna. Seriously, among all my family, friends and acquaintances I can't think of one whose children say Nan or Nanna.

This being the case why would the shop have so many cards for her? I suppose one answer might be that there are hardly any Nannas only Grandmas so they have sold out of Grandma and are stuck with a lot of Nanna left on the shelf. But surely these shops aren't stupid and would stock what they have a market for?

So, in my long-winded way, I thought I would ask on here what names you all use for the grandparents so that I could tell whether IABU or Card Factory are. That's it really.

My children have a Grandma and a Nana. Grandmothers' choice.

Gran and Grandpa. managed to get a Gran one but no luck on Grandpa yet. i got 'To Special Grandparents' last year. MIL was Nanna though.

How old is your DD, could she have made cards with the appropriate names on the front? I'm very surprised you couldn't find a card with Grandma on. Maybe branch out on where you shop.

My DM will be Nan when my LO arrives, so YABU.

Mine have a Nana, as do most of the children we know.

I am Grandma, my mum is Gran.

My Grandma is Grandma. My Mum is Nanny to her DGCs

Grandma all the way here, as it has been for generations! DH has Grandmas too.

Grandma and grandad.

for all of them. Can't stand the alternatives.

My mother insisted on being called Nana. I didn't like it either!
I didn't think the British said Grandma or Grandpa very often?

My DS has a Grandma, A Nana and a Grand (Step grand-parent).

He has two poppy's (both grandfathers are too 'cool' to be grandpas!).

He also has a plethora of surrogate Grandmas, grannies, nannies, nannas, grandpas, grandpops and grumpies!

We like to complicate matters!

I have a grandma and a Nana. My child(ren) have a Grandma and a Nana. I agree that it is grandparents choice but in our case with grandparents from different corners of the globe the amicably agreed consensus seems to be that mum's mum is grandma and dad's mum is Nana.

Grandma and Grandad for both sets of GPs, in our family.

Both mine are Granny, as with dc they are Granny too. Even harder to get a Granny card!
My mum hates 'Nanny' as she explains she is not a paid childcare provider! Can see her point!

Wait until you want Granda - not Grandpa or Grandad, but Granda. They're like hen's teeth, even here where everyone says Granda and Nanna.
At least they do Great Grandma ones now - I used to have to buy a little sticker with "Great" on and stick on every time, until quite recently.

Growing up I had a Mommom & a Poppop as well as a Grandmere. (yes we had to make all our cards)

My kids now have a Nana & Granddad and a Grandma and Grandpa

Both my mum and DPs mum are Nana. i dont know anyone who calls their Nana Grandma. Sounds very formal and old fashioned imo.

IME the Gran or Nanna decides for themselves. My Mum likes Grandma although I often call her Granny to annoy her. MIL is Oma. I had Gran, mum's mum and Nanna, dad's mum.

Nanna is very working class and regional. I like it - its funny. In my mind Grandmas are a bit proper and sew and bake and Nannas are mad and drink brandy and go to bingo. I think I'm projecting my family too much here!

My mum's Nanny and mil's grandma. My sister's mil is Nana though! I find it strange there wasn't more grandma choice! You can never find a card with Nanny on it though!

Grandad and Nana (though he insists on calling my mum Nanny much to her disgust, she is now trying to get him to call her by her first name)

And Grandma

My mum is Granny, my MIL is Nanny.

Grandma/Grandpa is seen as very old fashioned to both my Northern (mum) family and Southern (dad) family.

All my Southern cousins and their children (approx 25 of them) call my grandparents 'Nanny and Grandad'. I am 33 and still say 'Nanny'.

Same with Northern family (fewer of them though) all Nanny, my Nanny is referred to as 'Nanny Ma' by my DD - due to my mum having a 'ma' rather than a 'mum'

I was surprised that one of our family friends insisted on her grandson calling her 'Grandma' as she seems so young (50) and trendy to me and I associate 'Grandma' with a lady in a shawl, sitting in a rocking chair!

I have a similar problem finding cards for 'Nanny' - it's all about the 'Nanna' here too, I don't know anybody who calls their grandmother that!

I am a grandmother and since we have a cheerfully dysfunctional extended family, lots of options were available.

If the collective known as "The Grannies" I am "Nanny" and DDIL's mother is "Grandma". DP is "Grandpa (his name)", DS's father (my ex-h) is "Grandad". DDIL's father is "Grandad (hisname)".

With my own dcs's grandparents, my mother was "Granny", my former MIL was "Nanna" (her preference not mine and the first in our family to want to be known as Nanna). My former FIL was Grandad.

My stepchildren's maternal grandparents were known by family names that wouldn't appear on any card but DP's parents were "Granny" and "Grandad".

So from that confusing litany, we seem to be equally unhelpful so far as card buying is concerned. Of Grandads we have plenty. Of "Nans" we have none. Of "Grandmas" we have one and since the deaths of my and DP's mother, we have no "Grannys" either. We do have one (Great-grand) Nanna, but we really aren't a "Nanna" family.

My best friend's children have Granny and GrannyYuk (the MiL).

I'm not keen on the alternatives but MIL likes 'Nanna' so that's what she is; PIL is 'Grandpops' or 'Pops'. My parents were Grandma and Grandad from the start but Grandma has become 'Mor Mor' because DD couldn't say Grandma when she was wee. We have since discovered that Mor Mor is commonly used in Scandinavia (Mother's Mother). I doubt I'll ever find a Mor Mor card in the UK though. Our kids tend to make the cards.

Blondie - My Grandma used to shriek "I'm not a goat!" if my little brother ever tried calling her Nanny.

My mum used the same line as yours.

ArtVandelay (how's the import/export business?!) That's exactly how I see it. My Grandma was very much a sewing/knitting/baking old lady with mints and a cuddle. DH's Nanas were 'a bit rough' (to quote him) and did drink too much, were a bit loud and brash.