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?

My mum was northern and both hers were called Grandma. E.g. Grandma Smith and Grandma Jones.

When I was growing up (south), the people with a Granny definitely were a bit 'posh'. Mostly everyone had a Nan or Nana.

I much prefer Grandma but I couldn't say why, maybe just that it's what I'm used to. Both my Grandmothers were Grandma and so is DM but MIL is Nan, although my paternal Grandma became Gran as I got older .

Mine was, she was born in 1908 though...

I always thought that nanny was for the grandmother that you liked the best and grandma for the other one.. this was true in our family 😉

Im Grandma, by choice. I was a very young Grandma too, (before I was 40).
Its a family tradition. I find it warmer than Nan. But because I was Grandma we had to call my mum something else, she chose Nanna. So she was Grandma to my dd and Nanna to my dgds.

Class curveball here then... my kids have a Nanny, and a nanny they're only 4 and 3 and don't quite get how the much younger new-ish lady looking after them has the same name as my mum! Bit confusing. We're south west. My DH is from the north and his mum is grandma. Grandad seems pretty usual for men but I had a Pop.

@landofgiants

My grandma was grandma, and the other one chose her own special name.

My DS has a nain (Wales) and a grandma. Nain wanted to be called grandma, and grandma wanted to be called gran! But they have more or less accepted their names now.

Why did you call them names that they didn't want to be called?

It's usual for the new parents to ask their own parents what they want to be known as, surely? I and my friends who are grandparents certainly were.

It seems really arrogant to saddle one's parents with a name they dislike, for decades.

I don't understand why you'd say that Nana is "warmer" or that Grandma is "formal". The names are all fine, there is no need to compare them.

I think partly it was that no one at school called their grandma, grandma. They had a nan or whatever. And it seemed like they were more affectionate/closer and more informal. But just my perception.

It'd be like calling your mum 'mother' as a child. Well, not that bad.

"Grandmother' or "Grandmama" would certainly seem weirdly Victorian and formal but not grandma.

True.

I think within reason the grandparents in question should be allowed to choose what they are known as, so long as they don't choose something unbearably twee.

Aw I think having a twee name for your Grandma might be nice. How about 'possum,' 'moomin' or something like that? Or something cottagecore IDK.

I don't recall ever challenging the status quo

Why would you "challenge" the name she liked to be called?

@starrynight21 I suppose not. It just is something that seems/seemed weird to me.

"She wasn't well off financially or anything "

Same with this odd comment - names for grandparents have no connection to class or finances. You're massively overthinking the whole thing. There are dozens of terms to denote grandmotherly status - none of them have any bad connotations, they are just nice terms to show a relationship.

I heard it mentioned the other day as a thing that was supposedly more posh etc. So yes, it is sometimes referred to as if it were a class thing.

You didn't know her even as well as I did. They were quite poor and she was the kind of person that was concerned a little (though not massively excessively) with things appearing common vs. not common so I assume that was part of it. Like with the nan is a goat comment. So she was the one who thought that had a bad connotation of commonness or disrespectfulness perhaps.

I'm not overthinking it, I was just amused when I heard the sentiment again and wondered if many others had heard it/known someone who was like it.

If I ever said to kids at school that my nanny was visiting, they assumed I had a Mary Poppins childminder

@Goatinthegarden Yes it does sound a bit like that. Children are cruel and most want to fit in. x

My grandmother insisted on being called by her first name. I would have loved to have called her Granny or Gran, particularly as my other grandparents died before I was born. My own grandchildren call me Granny or Gran.

@Whatwillbewilbe I didn't know my grandparents on the other side, either. That grandma died when my dad was 22, and he didn't speak to his dad, who I didn't know existed until he died and we inherited a large, ornate, wardrobe.

My mum is gran or granny to my 2 dds

My gran was clearly gran lol

I believe it is thought a bit down market to use the term Nan. A nanny is, I suppose either a goat or professional carer of children. But I'm called Nan or Nanny. Grandma sounds more dignified but I think Nan sounds more cosy.

I was ticking off nain/taid and oma/opa but got all the way to the bottom and haven't seen nin. Is that just an old Liverpool term then?

Why woulda grandmother want to be called a name that's warm, it conjures up a heading for their dotage old lady imv. Would you like to be called love, hen, dear?
Both me and other DGM are Grandma - Grandma Sue or Sally if both being referred to together.

My son has a Grandma and a Granny. Nan/ Nanny/ Nana wouldn’t have been on our radar at all.

Nan/nana/nanny just sound horrible to me. They also conjure an image of really old ladies, I think this is because growing up a couple of my friends grandmothers were very old and ill and I associate nan/nana/nanny with them.

In our family it’s grandma and great grandma is granny.

I love being called love. It's what I grew up with.

“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'.“

Think that references banana rather than nana (did growing up in SE London 60s/70s).

Not sure what’s so foolish about bananas, though ….

Maybe from slipping on a banana skin in comedy?

I am xxxxxma to my GC, sometimes shortened to just 'ma'. Their mums are mum, or mother if in a cross mood.
Mine is my 5 letter first name with ma tacked on. It actually sounds ok as it's not an 'old style' name.

Mine insisted on being Grandma too, she would have been a similar age to yours OP. She said the same things about Nan.

My grannie said the same thing…she’s not a goat. My nanny on the other hand wouldn’t be called Grannie because it made her feel old. I think where you live makes a difference. I’ve moved up north and most grandmothers are Grandma or Nana up here

Mine were both Grandma. I think that was the norm bavk then. Nanny and nan seemed really old biddies to me back then but now thats normal. Its a trend/cycle

Really posh old ladies are Granny. Like the Queen is to her off spring

I am a Grandma. Nanny is a paid worker, Nanna is a dog in Peter Pan, and Nan and Granny both sound about 103!