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?

I much prefer Grandma.

@ancientgran: thanks for that note of support, it's really appreciated. When I was pregnant I made a reference to 'Grandma' and she got really offended and bristly. DH and I had a 'raised eyebrow' moment.

There's a long story here of passive-aggressive jibes at me, quite aside from my name: as is normally the case there is a large bigger picture here. The upshot is that I've stepped right back, am Very Low Contact and never visit her with DH and DC. I only see her if I happen to be home when she visits. It's not even worth doing the 'granny' thing to make a point: things have gone too far past that, unfortunately.

It's sad. I had the most wonderful relationship with my maternal gran, and my Mum loved her MiL (who died young). A good granny is worth her weight in gold. If I want to be involved in DC's relationship with her then I must sit there fending off veiled insults the whole time. And after a decade-and-a-half of this from my sister-in-law and an admittedly shorter duration from MiL, I decided I deserved to reject that kind of negativity.

I tried with MiL, but I wasn't able to salvage it.

I agree that I always thought of Grandma as being quite posh and formal...

I've got a Nanna and a Granny, but my mum asked to be called Grandma, I think purely to differentiate herself from her mum and MIL.

We always used Grandma, didn't see it as formal - Grandmother was the formal option

I have heard the nanny goat comparison but I think also it might be regional? Because it's not really a thing where I live

My mum's a grandma, I love it, it sounds warm and lovely to me. Could not be less posh. Nan is something that I have heard people use, bit odd, but there you go. Nanny is a job.

In Downton Abbey the dowagar Duchess is granny. Grandmother is really posh. How could "ma" ever be posh?

[quote MarieIVanArkleStinks]@ancientgran: thanks for that note of support, it's really appreciated. When I was pregnant I made a reference to 'Grandma' and she got really offended and bristly. DH and I had a 'raised eyebrow' moment.

There's a long story here of passive-aggressive jibes at me, quite aside from my name: as is normally the case there is a large bigger picture here. The upshot is that I've stepped right back, am Very Low Contact and never visit her with DH and DC. I only see her if I happen to be home when she visits. It's not even worth doing the 'granny' thing to make a point: things have gone too far past that, unfortunately.

It's sad. I had the most wonderful relationship with my maternal gran, and my Mum loved her MiL (who died young). A good granny is worth her weight in gold. If I want to be involved in DC's relationship with her then I must sit there fending off veiled insults the whole time. And after a decade-and-a-half of this from my sister-in-law and an admittedly shorter duration from MiL, I decided I deserved to reject that kind of negativity.

I tried with MiL, but I wasn't able to salvage it.[/quote]
It's horrible isn't it. My MIL used to refer to me as "the girl" and I used to laugh at her but she carried on until DH totally lost it with her. I honestly don't know what they get out of it. I have 3 DsIL, I get on with two of them but I do find it difficult with the other one, she is son's second wife and won't have his children from his first marriage in their house and resents him seeing them. To be honest I can't understand why he puts up with it. I'm not unpleasant to her though although I won't visit their house until my GC are welcome, that's a line I can't cross.

Some people make life needlessly unpleasant.

Nana for us.
Nana Alice (Brighton) said grandma made her feel old (born 1915).
Welsh nana was nain or mam-gu (born 1898).
DH called his Grandma (Nottingham).

Just as the OP said, I prefer to be Grandma. I always called both of mine Grandma, so it feels right.
Nan , Nanna, Nanny, was always thought of as sounding like a goat in our family too! Not so sure it's regional though - I'm in the South of the country and the other grandparents are Midlands/North and also prefer Grandma.

I had a nannan and a granny, they were both lovely.

I had a Grandma and a Nanny. They definitely fit the stereotypical descriptions of class for those titles on this thread (Grandma "posh", Nanny very WC) but I think that's coincidence more than anything. My mum is now Nana which I quite like and will probably want to use when I have grandkids.

@Billandben444

I'm Granny and historically we've had Nana and Gran. I used to bristle when I picked up my grandson from nursery and they said 'Nanny's here!' as I hated that name as it did sound like a goat (and her kid!) or the paid help. Each to their own though.

My grandmother (born in 1905) said she preferred Nanny as Grandmama was her grandmother - the 'paid help' when they were 0-6 was called Nurse + Name and then her governess, who was addressed by name - they never had a Nanny.

I'm Nana to my grandchildren. Years ago I did some voluntary work with an elderly couple. One weekend they invited me round for tea, to their very posh house(mansion!!) and I met their very posh little grandchildren, who called them Grandmama and Grandpapa!

Mine was always called Gran (Granny when I was small).

In my head, and quite unreasonably, Nan / Nana / Nanny sounds common

My mother is a Grandma, never Granny or Gran, she refused to be called Nanny as a Nanny is a person paid to look after children 🙄

I had a Granny Name and a Granny Name.

My kids have a Nana and a Granny. As chosen by the grandmothers, but I also like the names kids make up, like "anny" or "goompa"!

I'd love a Memaw to be in the family. Maybe I'll be one to my grandkids!

MIL chose to be called Grandma but I think it sounds formal to me. (She's not posh though!) My grandmothers were both called Nan and my mum is now Nanny

I've assumed Nan had derived long ago from Welsh (and some point prior wider British) Nain.

I'm Grandma and regard Nanny and its derivations as paid staff, so I wouldn’t consider it. We had Grandma and Granny as children, with Grandpa and Grandfa respectively.

My DGs' other grandparents aren't British, so they use the names for grandparents from their countries. (Sometimes I get a twinge of envy about being plain old Grandma, as they sound so much more exotic.)

My mums mum was always 'Nanny' or just 'Nan' - maybe it's an Irish thing as her own mums mum was Irish. My own mum is now 'Nanna' to my children :) so I guess it's been handed down.

My dads mum was always 'Grandma' but she was much less user friendly :)

My MIL prefers 'Gran'.

I think these preferences get passed on from generation to generation within families. Hopefully someone will call me 'Nanna' one day :)

I had a nana and a gran, am now a nana myself, However, I have a very 'imaginative' dgs who, after I had had a small accident and cut my head open described me from then on as 'nana crackhead'! of course the whole family think this is bloody hilarious and it has stuck, god knows what the school think when nana crackhead picks him up

We had two grandmas rather than nans.

I thought I’d like to be granny when I’m older, although apparently that’s the Scottish usage and I’m not Scottish.

Why would the name of a paid role provide inspiration for a very fundamental familial relationship? I don't but that as a derivation.

My mum is Granny and MIL is Grandma. I don’t mind Nan or Nanna but don’t like Nanny because of the confusion with paid nannies. One of my friend’s mums goes by Mammar to her grandkids which I find confusing with Mama (which my kids called me as toddlers).

My mother was dead set against granny, made her feel old "you old granny". Much prefer nanny. I think I'd like to be called nana. But each to their own.