Anyone else's Grandma....

[me4real]

I happened to see this mentioned somewhere presumably as a joke, but my nan insisted on being called Grandma, as she said nan was a goat etc etc.

I hadn't heard the above reason until my uncle mentioned it a while back. Also presumably she thought it common.

I always thought it was sooo formal - quasi-Victorian, although she will've been born in about 1915 or something. She died in the early 90s. I don't recall ever challenging the status quo.

She wasn't well off financially or anything.

Anyone else?

Nan was the most common where I lived in london , growing up in the 70's and 80's but 8 grew up on council estates and nan was the most used , grandma basically never , with the odd few that used gran.

I think 'Nan' is more northern/midlandsy.

Nanny is someone who looks after children.

We called one of my grandmother's 'Granny' and the other by a completely different name that she chose.

@worriedatthemoment

Nan was the most common where I lived in london , growing up in the 70's and 80's but 8 grew up on council estates and nan was the most used , grandma basically never , with the odd few that used gran.

Oh you have just proven my 'I think Nan is used in the Midlands/North' point wrong then!

Both mine were grandma, my mum hated nan and variations of.

Someone told me recently that they were “Charlotte’s Nanny” and I had no idea (and still no idea) if that means she is paid for childcare for Charlotte or if she is her grandmother… 🤷‍♀️

@KT727

I think 'Nan' is more northern/midlandsy.

Nanny is someone who looks after children.

We called one of my grandmother's 'Granny' and the other by a completely different name that she chose.

'Nana' is quite nice. I've heard that fairly often.

I agree that a nanny is someone who is paid to look after children; in America they call such a person, Nurse. Apropos of nothing, the nanny is also 'Nurse' in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

I had two grandmas - 'Gran' for short.

My mother in law was Grandma (there was also a Greatgrandma for eight years), my mother had a nick name.

My family has always been a mix of Grandma, Nanna and Nanny. And it's always been what that individual has chosen to be called, there's been no committee or voting involved.

If and (hopefully) when my kids become parents, I'd choose Grandma.

My grandma was exactly like this haha! She was my mums mum born in 1937 in leeds and hated being called nanny/nana as it was a goat. My nana (dads mum) didn’t mind at all strangely and she was born in Halifax in the same era 😂

My nana (pronounced nanar) hated grandma, gran, and especially granny. She said it made her feel old. My best friend growing up called her grandmother, momar.

My Mum chose to be Grandma, as did my Grandma in the 80s.

@Droite

Nanny or nana is a paid child carer.

This ^

@KT727

I think 'Nan' is more northern/midlandsy.

Nanny is someone who looks after children.

We called one of my grandmother's 'Granny' and the other by a completely different name that she chose.

Not in my experience. Many of the students I taught in London had Nans. I’ve since moved to Birmingham and Nanny is much more common. We had an unseen fiction paper a few years ago which made absolutely no sense unless you understood that the ‘nanny’ mentioned was paid childcare, not a grandmother. Our students really struggled and completely misread it.

My DD has a Nanny and a Nana. We always used Nanny in my family.

My uncle had his own DD late in life, there is 30 years between my Nanny's two youngest DGC. Uncle and his wife insist that her name is Grandmama and chastise us for using Nanny - even though it's been her name for 40 years 🤣. She's starting to dote a bit and never knows who they're taking about when they use Grandmama

I didn't know 'Nana' was a paid child carer so I looked it up.

First of all I saw that it means: a silly person; a fool (often as a general term of abuse).
"I was made to look a right nana", pronounced 'narner'.

Then I read it is a common abbreviation/child's for 'Grandma'.

I imagine it started off when children were learning words and didn't pronounce them properly. I've heard, "Ganna', which I think is sweet. Sometimes these names stick.

I had a gran and a grandma. My children have a gran and a nanny. My nephews often wind my mum up by calling her grandmama. She hates that and nanny, says it makes her sound like a goat. Unfortunately she said this to my MIL before my eldest could talk and MIL informed her she was going to be a called nanny.

Nanny is what I grew up calling mine and what dh called his paternal gm but in MILs family it's grandma. Our dc call dm nanny and MIL grandma. MIL says a nanny is someone you pay to look after your children

Nana for me..

West Coast Scotland

Always Grandma in our family. If I ever have grandchildren of my own l will be happy to carry on the Grandma tradition.

Both of mine were Grandma, all cousins called them that to so I think it must have been what they decided to be called. My maternal Grandmother we used to try and wind up by calling her Gran/Granny and she would just ignore us!

I refer to my DM as Grandma to my DC even though she passed away before they were born as I think she would have wanted to be called the same.

My MIL and SMIL both told us what they wanted the children to call them when they were born (first Grandchild for both) same with the Grandad's and Grampy's. Everyone is called something different so the children know who is who. With my two Grandmas we had to refer to them with surnames as well so we knew which one!

I should add we have a Grandma and a Nanny, we are in the SW and everyone is from this area.

In my family grandma was always used for a great grandmother, so my nan was nan/nanny to me and my siblings/cousins, and my dads nan was nan to him and his siblings but grandma to me/siblings/cousins.

Mine were always Grandma or Granny, as is my mum now.

I thought it was regional, as with the 'Mum/Mom/Mam' thing. It had never occurred to me before that what we called our dear ole granny and gramps now boils down to 'class'. It does seem that if an affectionate family name has become that kind of a social marker, it's a real shame.

The UK has much to recommend it, but it would be good if we rid ourselves of this curious national hang-up of ours.

Nan definitely isn't just a northern thing. I grew up in the south and lots of people had nans, nanas, nannies etc. Meanwhile, my northern grandmother was a grandma. Same for my other Welsh one.

It's a bit sad, but ultimately I think it's one of the many class markers that are so ubiquitous in this weirdly class-ridden country.

Both of mine were grandma , mil was grandma , my sister is a grandma ( she’s 58 ) one day , hopefully I’ll be grandma
Step mil insisted on nana , which I think is awful ( and DS always calls her by her first name ) DD calls her nana though