What to do when all grandparents want to be called the same name??

[Fluffyted]

Hi,

We're due to have our first baby in January.

We had a family get together on the weekend with my family & my in-laws.
The topic came up about what all the grandparents wanted to be called - both my dad & FIL want to be called Grampy and both my mum & MIL want to be called Nanna.

So now I feel like we are in a little predicament as calling them all the same name is surely going to be confusing for a child?

My MIL & FIL already have a grandchild (our nephew) so they've been called Grampy & Nanna for years already - so want to keep that the same with their next grandchild.

Since we told everyone we were expecting, my mum originally said she wanted to be called Nanny & my dad said "he didn't care" (in a nice way, just he wasn't bothered) so I thought great, we don't have to worry!
🙈

So, anyway that conversation went down like a lead balloon with everyone just awkwardly looking at each other before the subject got changed.

I only had 1 grandparent growing up l, as all my others had passed away before I was born, so I didn't have an issue with naming grandparents.

My partner thinks we should just call my mum "Nanna X" & my Dad "Grampy X" and his parents "Nanna & Grampy" as that's what they are called by our nephew.

I suggested this to my mum - she hates the idea and just wants to be called Nanna.
My MIL is also firmly against the idea of being called Nanna X.

So, what do people normally do in this situation?
I know it's hardly a big issue or problem but I thought I'd ask and hopefully get some help!

My Grandma's lived in different places so when I was little I called them "Grandma in X" and "Grandma in Y". Then just called them Grandma when I talked to them.

No more confusing for a kid than adults having the same name. Two of my daughters Godmothers have the same name, which is also shared with another family friend. Her Aunt has the same name as another friend, and 3 of the male family friends in her life have the same name. Kids will create their own identifiers quickly enough.

My son has two grandads and it's never caused any confusion. We just clarify with surname when talking about them when they're not around (or when they both are). My son is 3, it's never caused confusion.

I really wouldn't care if any suggestions are "going down like a lead balloon". They can choose their own names, but they don't get to dictate what the other grandparents do. If they have an issue with there being two Grandads or two Nannas, they can solve the problem themselves by changing their title or adding their name/surname.

We just add names "Nanny Pat" /"Nana Chris".

My Grandson has Grandparents and Great Grandparents. We are all known as Nanny (first name) and Grandad (first name). Simple.

That's exactly what my children had. The children called them both Granny to their faces, but when we were talking about them we added the locations.

My family always used surnames, so Grumpy and Nanna Smith and Grampy and Nanna Jones. Simples.

My two just call everyone nana and grandad when speaking to them. When referring to them in the third person we use Grandad x Nana x.

It's really not a big deal. How often are the grandparents all together?

We ended up with Grandma 'town where they lived'

I know friends who have Nanny Dog and also Chris Evans talks about being Grandad Radio!!

So if you start with just Nanny and Grampy for both you will probably find that kids find their own versions!

We had [dogs name] grandad and [other dogs name] grandad!

I had two granddads, 3 Nanas and a great gran (one of the nanas was a great Nana), it was never an issue. If referring to them they were Nana Smith/Nana Jones but they were hardly ever, if ever in same building together so we just called them Nana and grandad. Genuinely was not an issue ever.

You're over thinking this massively. We have 2 Grandad's. When we are with them we just call them Grandad. When we aren't we refer to them as Grandad (name) or Grandad (name). Just call them all Nanna and Grampy.

Just call them what they want with their name on the end then when they’re with them they can drop the name. Problem solved.

We have the name of their town or county. Two are divorced and one is remarried so that's three places. So (with the places changed):

Bristol Granny and Grandpa
Leeds Granny
Devon Grandpa and Sue (second wife)

Works fine!

I have a coworker whose children call their grandmother Molly! Grandma looks young and is very pretty so the kids made up a name for her. Her name is not Molly. 😀

When I was little, I called my own grandparents Granny and Grandpa with the bees (they kept bees) and Granny with the necklace (she had a locket necklace). The Grandpa married to that Granny didn't have a distinguishing name! Then I think when I was a bit older it was the name of where they lived, in front of Granny or Grandpa.

Same here. So we have Granny X and Granny Y where x and y are the first letter of the surnames. Works just fine. Christmas and birthday cards seem to go for Nanna a lot. I find it hard to find Granny cards, its all Grandma or Nanna. Grampy might be a challenge to find on cards too.

Both myself and my DILs mum were nanny, now I’m nanny first name, I don’t mind at all, it’s easier for them to distinguish, my gran is still alive and I have grandchildren, we all call her granny town she lives in.

We have this issue in our family. Me and my husband are nanna and grandad G and then there’s nanna and grandad F (me and grandad F are step grandparents) my husbands parents are great nanna G and grandad senior and my parents are great nanna H and grandad senior 2.0. To our grandson we’re all just nanna and grandad but we add the initials when talking to him so he can differentiate between which set of grandparents we’re talking about

My brother had this when his son was born, both Mums wanted to be Nanny, no problem, they became Nanny R and Nanny D when talked about in general conversation and just both called Nanny by the kids when they were with them, even if with both of them at the same time. No problems whatsoever.

We have Granny and Grandad for my (local) parents and DH’s are Grandma and Grandad North because they’re in Yorkshire, the ‘north’.

This is what my family did. We had Nana S and Nana F

The children will probably end up calling them something like Nanna Puddles or Grampy Oops anyway, children ghave their own devious ways...

My nieces had a Granny Mary and Granny Janie. They usually called them just Granny - only used the name to differentiate if needed. I really don't see why this needs to be a problem.

Granny x granny y gramps x gramps y

tnis isn’t an issue. I had two grandmas growing up. I think it’s weird to be anything other than grandma and grandad because that’s what I grew up with, so I wanted them all to be grandma x grandma y etc. but they all wanted ‘fancier’ names 😂

I wanted to be called Nanna - my grandchildren have never called me it because the eldest decided I was Nanny and it stuck (I didn't mind - it was so cute hearing them call me by any name I wouldn't have cared what they called me). Your parents may not get a choice!