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!

I had two Grandmas and two Grandads
No biggie

My kids call/called both sets of grandparents 'Nanny and Grandad'. If I am talking about them and they are not there I will say Nanny X or Grandad Y so the kids don't get confused about which Nanny I'm talking about but they wouldn't say 'Hi Nanny X' when speaking directly to them. I think you're over thinking the whole situation.

I thought I'd be Granny, in fact I'm Gangan as that is what grandson calls me. My own children had black Grandad and white Grandad because they differentiated by hair colour. I'd say chill out, chances are your child will have their own ideas or will work out for themselves who is who.

In my life time I’ve had 4 grandas. 2 grandas, 2 great grandas.
referencing them at home would’ve been granda name.. for all them. But they were just granda to their face.
kids adjust so I’d just reference at home by nanny x for example.
I do know of a few “wee gran/big gran/old gran or big granda/old granda” so you’ll find your feet as your wee one grows up

When I was growing up We had Granny-Dad’s surname and Granny-mums surname. But of course we didn’t call them that when we saw them! They were just granny in person, but the surname meant we knew which granny was being talked about.

Growing up I had 2 Grandads and 2 Grandmas. Not confusing at all!

What did matter was how each relationship made me feel. They were all different and I benefited from that in many ways.

Don’t overthink it. 😊

My Mum and Nan were both Nanny to mu daughter but we called them Nanny X and Nanny Y..when with them though she just called them both Nanny

I was about to say this. My Kids never call them Nanna/Grandad (First Name) but when we talk about them we say it like this. You can’t really expect them to be called something they hate and it really isn’t confusing.

My sons call their grandad " grandad beard" probably a coincidence, but I'm in Staffordshire. Any link?

I had 2 nanas and 2 grandads, we just called them nana followed by their surname

Names as part of it here too, Granny Joy & Granny Ann.
my sisters son calls his Grandads, big grandad & little grandad 😆
the kids will give them names so don’t worry 😊

We just added their surnames.

"Grampy" 😂

The Swedes have a really good system for this (apologies if someone has already mentioned this - have skimmed):
Mormor is your mother's mother
Morfar is your mother's father
Farmor is your father's mother
Farfar is your father's father

We had nanna (mums maiden name) and manna (dad’s name) and it always worked grand!

Exactly.
This is what we did in our family and never had any issues.
Nana Betty and Nana Lee
Papa Ben and Papa Mike

@AloneLike what's so funny about "Grampy"?

I grew up with 3 granddads. I called them all granddad, but referred to them as Mum's Granddad, Dad's Granddad and Our Granddad (he lived with us). Technically he was my great Granddad but he raised my mum, she called him Dad and he'd have been hurt if anyone acknowledged him as anything other than her dad.

It wasn't confusing. We all knew who we meant. Gran was Gran, Nanna was Nanna, but if they'd been the same we'd have followed the same pattern. My mum is nanna to my DS. I still have my Nanna. I call her my Nanna. DS will be encouraged to call them both Nanna, and to just refer to 'mummy's nanna' if he is referring to my nanna.

Whatever title they want plus their name. Simple
My DD has 2 Granddads. Grandad 'Bob' and Grandad 'Tom'. Obviously not their real names but you get the gist.

I had two Nanny’s growing up - never got confused as I named them after their relative pets so it was JoJo’s Nanny and Morag’s Nanny.

Both sets of grandparents are nanny and grandad in our family. Never occurred to us to ask them, but it was what we both called out grandparents. When referring to them my husbands parents are nanny and grandad first name and mine are nanny and grandad surname. Again, just because that's what we bith did as kids. In their company (even if all together) they sre just nanny (nan now kids are older) and grandad

Grampy Dave
Grampy Gary

Nanna Tracey
Nanna Sharon

My 2 year old has a Nana and a grandad and a nanna and a grandad. It’s not a big deal.