To wish people wouldn't use the word "nana"

[IDoughnutKnow]

Unless you are a toddler and are talking about bananas.

People never used it back in the good old days of MN.

I'm originally from Yorkshire. I found a fairly even split between Grandmas and Nanas amongst the kids I went to school with. In our family it was always Grandma and the name was never 'taken', meaning that if one took Granny the other had to be Nana. We were never confused!

As to the names indicating aging: grandparenthood by definition happens when we're into our maturer years. Granny or Nana therefore makes no odds - it's not going to make you any younger.

Our great granny was affectionally named 'Gran-Gran Fluffy Head' by my second cousin - now that DOES sound old!

What’s wrong with ‘mom’?

Per MN, it's American, which is of course the worst thing it is possible to be.

They’d faint living in the West Midlands 🤣

Heavens, don't even suggest such a thing.

Some Nana’s don’t want to be Grandma or Granny and it’s also easier for a child to say. YABU that this bothers you. You choose what you would like to be called and let others do the same and get on with it.

I can't stand the term. Adults talking like babies. A total embarrassment.

I had a school friend many years ago who had a dog called Nanna. Whenever I hear someone say Nanna, all I can think of is that horrible little dog with the crooked teeth. Just like Nanna I suppose 😆

Wasn't that the dog in Peter Pan?

It was an actual nursemaid for the children, if I remember rightly, because their parents couldn't be arsed with them and rocked off to parties at night, leaving the kids alone in the house.

No wonder the kids were always singing about needing a mother (and trying to assign Wendy to the task ...)

@gerrataer nothing wrong with it but makes my teeth itch.

What now?
My Nana is just my Nana.... I'm not going to suddenly start calling her something else once I reached adulthood. That's just ridiculous

I am from South Wales and would like to be called Nain; especially as I have a Welsh first name!

Me too. For obvious reasons...

Exactly my point, the late Queen was "Granny". Nanna would be considered very much a lower class term ie middle/working/under etc., Fascinating really, but the uk class system is all a load of old bollocks.

@GCSister She means the shortening of banana (nah-na) and not Nanna (nan-a) as in grandmother. I think she misread the OP's post 😂

And what snobs like the OP don’t realise is that they are the ones ‘giving themselves away’ and ‘showing their upbringing’. Totally lacking class and manners. It’s interesting that, ime at least, snobs tend to also be quite thick. The snobbiest person I know is also one of the dimmest.

Hmm not sure about that, the snobbiest person I knew was my dear late fil. Titled (and entitled) We had many a good discussion on class, he said quite openly that he couldn't bear the middle classes and that he had much more in common with the labourers on his land than say a doctor or lawyer. He called them "people who bought their own furniture". Absolutely fine with his pfb marrying a working class girl but hated his dd wanting to marry a teacher. But he was extremely clever, huge range of subjects that he was very knowledgeable. Wrote and had published, copious material about art history. Renowned in his field. The whole giving themselves away is a way of as he would put it "finding our people" very tribal. He hated the idea that others should want to rise above their station. Awful when I look back because he was very dear to us all, but these sort of ideals really do belong in another century.

he said quite openly that he couldn't bear the middle classes and that he had much more in common with the labourers on his land than say a doctor or lawyer.

that sort always say shit like that. they feel safe patronising the working classes as they don't feel like the working class are ever a real threat. Unlike the middle class lawyer who might become a partner in a top firm, earn many £££££, sends his kids to a top school, buys the massive house, and all the other rich people's things. he feels they should know their place.

My son’s grandmother’s are Nan/Nanny & Nanna. My grandmothers were Grannie (Northern Irish & yes “ie”) & Grandma. I wanted my mum to be a Grannie but she said it sounded too old (17 years ago)
Now I’m glad she’s not a Grannie as she’s too young & glam for that 😂

In my experience the mother of a girl will become a nanna and the mother of a boy will become a Granny/Gran.
I love the word nanna.
Wish mum would piss off tho. Much prefer mam.

Most people used the term Nannan here. I realise it must be regional as I haven’t seen it mentioned and its hard to find on card’s.
To the op - why does it matter? I personally hate Grandmother/ Grandma etc as it makes me think of someone really old.

My DH had a Nannan.

I had a grandma and a nana to differentiate between the 2. Nana just reminds me of my Nana 🥲

My mum, her mum and her mum's mum are all Nana, but not pronounced like Nanna, more like none-are, which I think is more of a regional thing. My MIL wants to be Granny, which is fine with me, but she always mispronounces Nana when talking to DD1 and that really goes through me. So I guess we all have our silly bugbears and YANBU

I'm Nana to my granddaughter and I love it. It sounds so much warmer than grandma or granny. The Italian word for grandmother is Nonna.