As my husband’s Mum and Dad have both re-married, Mabel is lucky enough to have three sets of equally doting grandparents. I can recall discussing with James that at some point, we may need to refer to everyone differently somehow, so that when we were explaining to Mabel who she was going to visit, she could at least try and differentiate between places and faces.
Growing up my dad’s parents were referred to as “Grandad Stan” and “Nanny Lily” (you know because that was their names) and then my Mum’s were referred to as Grandpa Jack and Nana….Wales. Because, well, she lived in Wales. So did Grandpa Jack, in the same house as Nana Wales in fact, but for some unknown reason he didn’t have the pleasure of being lumbered with a title related to his country of origin.
James had “Nana on the bus” and “Nana in the car” (which still cracks me up to this day) and also Grandad Frank, whom he bears an uncanny resemblance to apparently.
Mabel sees my parents the most, they look after her all day on a Wednesday and as they live literally five minutes down the road, often pop in for a cup of tea on a Friday when I have Mabel at home, and sometimes on weekends too. My Mum is very simply “Nana’ but Mabel has taken it upon herself to call my Dad “Ray”, not even Grandad Ray…..just Ray. She gets quite cross when I try to refer to him as Grandad, perhaps because that’s what she calls James’s Dad – she wants to differentiate all by herself it would seem (he’s married to Nana Debs by the way).
And then there’s Granny, James’s Mum, who is married to Roger. But because of Mabel’s cousin Theo’s mispronunciation when he was initially referred to as “Grandpa Leek” (because you know, he lives in Leek) Roger is now….Geek-Car.
So altogether we have: Nana and Ray, Grandad and Nana Debs, Granny and Geek-Car.
Yes, sometimes it can get all rather confusing. And I’m just covering the name aspect, not the juggling and travelling and scheduling activity that goes into trying to evenly distribute Mabel’s time with all the folks that love her the most. As well as wanting to spend time just us 3, as a family.
What does your little refer to their grandparents as? Please feel free to share anything you fancy on the subject in the comments box below!
As the first Granchild my daughter had the honour of making her own names for my mum and dad… at age 1 she preferred to them as Gary (granny) and Papa (grandpa). We all found it so funny that my mum was being called Gary that 1 year later and now being able to pronounce everything properly we still use the same names. We love the funny looks we get when people hear mum being called Gary! My husband’s mum is called Ma by her other grandchildren and again my daughter slightly mispronounced this at first as Mark so her two grandmothers are known as Gary and Mark!!
That is brilliant Lucy!
LOVE this Lucy!
Both are called Grandma and Grandad. To differentiate we have Superhero Grandad (my dad is a comic book fan who plays the part of nick fury when the kids are playing superheros) and Allotment Grandad. Unfortunately my son also added Grandma Who Smokes (my husbands stepmother who is not great at being a discreet smoker). Awkward….
I know I shouldn’t laugh but….the “Grandma who smokes” thing is a bit funny (!) x
My children call my husbands parents nans and granddad as that’s what their older cousins called them.
My mum is called granny, as she referred to her granny like that. My dad is called pops…. He felt he was too cool to be a grandad so the choice was …. pops, gramps, grumps so he chose pops.
I love it…… my kids call him popping pops, poops, poppy…..All sorts! Haha
My little boys first attempt at Nana Roberts came out as Nana Robot. Its stuck : ) x
I love that Stacy!
My children are extremely fortunate to have 9 grandparents!! We see them all on a regular basis too. Both mine and my husbands parents are called nana and grandad and we differentiate the nanas with their names so they’re nana Gill and nana Lin and their granddads are grandad bike and grandad golf (naturally). Then my nan and grandad are called granny and grandpop. My other nan is gran gran. My husbands grandad is simply great grandad. And I’m very lucky to still have my great nan around (95 years old) and she is called Grandma. We call her that because that’s what the great grandchildren have always called her and I feel like things would get really confusing if we gave her another name! My children are her first great great grandchildren and there are 5 generations of women in the family now. My little girl is 2.5 and understands all the different names better than I do sometimes!
Wow Kayleigh! Thanks for sharing – I often think Mabel actually gets it right more often than we do too! x
We have three sets too. A Nanna and a Grandad (my parents) who we see all the time and who do childcare a few days a week, a Nanna who (in my opinion) should have picked a different name which allows for differentiation and snaps at me if I try and use Nanna Her Name and a Grandad and a Granny.
It’s getting quite awkward now as when Nanna Her Name says ‘Nanna’s here’ my daughter replies ‘where’. MUST. NOT. SNIGGER
**sniggers**
Ste’s parents are nanny and grandad but I think in the main that’s because the five grandchildren before Hector decided that’s what they were going to be called and so the names have stuck. My mum and stepdad are called Gramme and Grampa respectively although for some reason we refer to him occasionally as Donks and Hector responds more to Donks than he does to Grampa. My mum toyed with the idea of Nonna for a while in the hopes it would make her sound less ‘grandma-ish’ but finally settled on Gramme.
My parents are remarried (well my Dad has been with his partner 24 years, so as good as) we too have 6 grandparents. Matt’s parents were already grandparents to his older brother’s daughter, Grandma and Granddad were already established for them. simple. My side proved a little less so as I wanted there to be a clear distinction. My Mum is Nana and her husband is Pops, my Dad is Granddad Roy and his partner Nana Liz. Everyone seems happy with their titles, however our daughter is only eight weeks so who knows if she’ll find a different way of differentiating them when she’s older.
Growing up I had nine grandparents (stick with me) Nana and Granddad (mum’s) Little Nana and Harold (Dad’s Mum was only 4ft8″ we only ever referred to Harold by his name) Granddad Fred (Dad’s Dad, didn’t really know him) Brenda and Poppa (Mums husband’s, Brenda only ever wanted to be referred to by her name) Wally and Nonna (Liz’s parents, Nonna being Italian and everyone called her Nonna and Wally was just Wally it never occurred to me to call him any else)
Matt had Kerry’s Nana (apparently Kerry was the name of Nana’s dog!) and Other Nana both of which I find most amusing and just one Granddad. I think I had some of his share!
As both our parents are divorced, Zoe has four sets of very doting grandparents, a nana (my mum), a granny and grandad (my husband’s mum), a gramps and nanny (my dad) and grandpa and grandma (my husband’s dad). Luckily they all chose slightly different names so my daughter can differentiate between everyone fairly easily, although my husband really struggles to remember all the names!
My daughter is only four months old so not yet able to give names to her four sets of grandparents!! But it hasn’t stopped said grandparents all wanting to be called something slightly different…we’ve got Nanna (my mum), Grannie & Gramps (my dad & step-mum), Nannie & Pops (my husband’s mum & step-dad) and Nannie (plus name) and Grandad… Quite a lot for a little person to remember so we will have to see what names they eventually end up with! X
Fairly uncomplicated here for Isla (age 2.4) as she has just two sets of grandparents. On my side, it is nana and grandad, which is what my parents decided upon when my brothers first child was born. Isla is now grandchild number 5, so don’t think she had much say in the matter!
On my husband’s side, it is granny and grandad, which is what he called his grandparents. I wondered if “granny” was a bit… old sounding, but actually it works really well and I couldn’t imagine it any different.
Obvious confusion with two “grandads”, but we get by with either linking the name to granny or nana, or else using “grandad chris” and “grandad Ian”.
Granny does come out sounding like “Gary” rather a lot, which is always funny!
Lauren my Mum was the same about “Granny” – she thought it sounded too old (!) hence the “Nana” title instead…which you know, is so less old…..apparently. I too love it though so Mabel uses Granny for James’s Mum x
Same reason my mum opted for Nana. I mean, it’s much of a muchness though isn’t it!?
Nairn has a Granny & Grandpa and a Grandma & Grandpa. The two Grandpa’s make things slightly confusing but when talking about my husbands Dad Nairn pats the top of his head because he always wears a hat.
My brother is called Duncan and decided that instead of Uncle Duncan he would like to be called Duncle, so we’ve been calling him that from day 1, Nairn however proudly calls him Condor we have no idea why!
My mum insisted on Lyra calling her ‘Obaachan’ (Japanese for Grandma). Bless Lyra, it must be quite a struggle for a nearly-two-year-old to say it but she manages 🙂 X
Bless Lyra! That is so sweet x
In our situation we have a Gran and Grandad, and Grandad and Papa, a Granny and a Grandad Doug, a Nana and a Grandad? Its funny how they work it all out and between us when she is referring to my husband it is your Grandad and when she is referring to her other Grandad its Papa’s Grandad or Nanas Grandad. Its sometimes takes me to get my head around it but in her little mind she knows exactly who’s who and that we all love her to bits x
I don’t have kids (yet!) but I do wonder what my future kids will call mine and my partner’s parents – I think that our parents will likely choose the names that their own parents got called. Growing up I had a Grandma and Grandad, and a Gran and Gramps, which made things easy! My Grandma and Grandad’s new partners just got referred to by their names, which again, was easy… if uninventive. I like to refer to my Dad as Pops so maybe we could trial that name!
My children also have multiple grandparents. All the dads are called grandad, we did try to call my stepfather Colin pops but as my eldest was the first grandchild she decided to say grandad and it stuck. They know the difference between them, my dad is grandad Surrey, my mum, who said granny is too old for her as she was 40 when I had my first, is known as nanny white car, due to her car and their dads parents are known as grandad/nanny France, where they live, and are more excited about to see them as they live on a farm in France and gets slightly disappointed if I say my mum is visiting.
I have 4 sets of Grandparents all still alive & very healthy, I’m 30 and my sister 34. So my nephew has 4 sets of Great Grandparents, which is hard for him to explain in the playground!!! We had Grandad & Nana, Nanny & Grampie, Grandad & Mama (as her Mum was always Mama) and Granny & Ian (my Dad’s stepdad who was too young to be a ‘Grandad’ but I always describe him as my Grandad!)
So birthdays and Christmas were amazing when we were kids!!!
I called my Grandparents Garbar & Grandy (I was unable to pronounce Grandma & Granddad) and as the first grandchild these names stuck for all subsequent grandchildren. I am now expecting the first grandchild for my mum & dad and was happy to carry on the Garbar & Grandy tradition , however my sister flipped out and said we weren’t allowed! So I think we are going to use Nain Booth (Nain being the welsh for Grandma) and Grandpa John – already slightly odd that my mum is getting referred to by her Sir name and my dad by his first! My husbands parent’s already have grandchildren so are already Papa and Grandma Dot 🙂
My M&D and nanny and granddad, my husbands M&D are grandma and granddad (who she often just calls by his name because shes heard grandma shouting at him!).
Which reminds me I really struggled to get a card addressed to nanny for mothers day, I’m sure its difficult for others too with all these variations!
Then there’s our great grandparents. On my side nanny name and granddad name but husbands she insists on calling them by their names only, probably because she doesn’t see them often
Lou I really struggle to get Nana as well? It seemed to be Gran or Granny or Grandma…..no other options.
Both mine and my partners parents are separated plus we still have my grandparents with us. So we have 4 grandads and 1 bumpy (it was grumpy but Leon changed it). 1 nana, 2 nannys, 1 grandma and 1 nanette (Jeanette), so yea there’s a lot of confusion in my little boys head.
I find it fascinating on what kids pick up on. My boss thinks it is hilarious that his grandaughter has picked up on nicknames and calls them Az and Caz (Alastair and Caroline). A friend’s mum insisted she was too young to be a ‘granny’ and has insisted on being known as Mama. While another friend, who is part Indian, has her children call their grandmother ‘Bibi’ which I think is an Indian term for grandmother.
My grandparents didn’t like being called ‘nanny’ or ‘nanna’ so I had Grandma Jeanne and Grandma Lucy (who everyone else called May!!). With Grandma Jeanne she became more relaxed as we got older and preferred just being Gran.
I haven’t read all the comments because mine is so very confusing. I am lucky that my daughter has 8 (recently 7) grandparents. My parents divorced and they have both re married. My husbands parents are together and one of my grand parents is still alive.
So we have: Nanna Shirley and Gan Gan Eric who are my husbands parents.
Gan Gan Peter and Nanna Donna who are my dad and step mum.
Grandma Pub ( my mum lives in a pub) and Grumps – My mum and grumpy step-dad
Grandma and Grandad Choo Choo (Grandad passed away recently) because their back garden back onto the steam railway line.
Confusing but she gets it and she made the names up. x
My dad didn’t want to be be Grandad or Grampa as they had been used by his dad and his dads dad so he decided to Grandpops which Zach pronounces as Poppa.. My mum is Nanny. Zach’s other set are Nanny Joan and Grandpa Dave but it may change as Zach is only 2 and these are the names we have given them. When I had a nan when I was younger we called her Comic Nan, not because of her jokes but because she brought me Button and Twinkle magazines (or comics)
We have Nana and Poppi (her great grandparents, but that’s what I call them)
Nana Jean (again great grandma)
Then big grandma and grandad. (Big grandma because she would tell her what a big girl she was when potty training)
And Grandma Toast & Pumpy. (Grandma toast is always eating toast and Pumpy just because apparently)
They all love their names!
We have an auntie boobies too! ??
Nicole “Grandma Toast” is brilliant! ?
My 6 month old son is grandchild number 7 for my parents, and they’ve always been Nanna and Gramps. He is the first grandchild for my husband’s parents, so when his Mum wanted to be called Nanna as well, we needed something to differentiate. My parents live in Kent where I grew up so my Mum is Nanna South, my husband’s parents live in Yorkshire near us, so his Mum is Nanna North ?
ha ha love this Hannah! I used to have a friend years ago called “North” – because he was from the North (!) randomly he now knows my husband via work and so he too refers to him as um…North (not in business meetings I might add) x
We don’t have quite so many grandparents but we have a Nana and a Grandad Rog who are my parents. And my husbands’ parents are Grandma (so an easy enough distinction between the females) and he’s SUPPOSED to be Grandad Steve, but my 2 year old calls him ‘Big Grandad’ because, well, ahm, he has a rather big tummy! Luckily Big Grandad doesn’t mind his name although it was very awkward the first time he called him it to his face.
Oh god, I think I’m loosing my marbles… I just posted a reply but I guess I hadn’t pressed ‘post’. Anyhow, the upshot of it was that my husband’s Dad is meant to be Grandad Steve, to differentiate between my Dad, Grandad Rog, and him. But my two year old calls him ‘Big Grandad’ because of his rather rotund frame! Luckily Big Grandad finds it amusing, although it was awkward the first time he said it.
My daughter calls my parents, nanny nonna and ‘gandad’. My husbands dad is also called ‘gandad’. I called my grandad ‘Nangy’ and still do. I generally thought it was his actual name until I was around 11 years old, I finally twigged who this John was that my nan talked about!
On my Dad’s side, it was Nana and Grandad but on my Mum’s side, being Swedish, I use the terms Mormor and Morfar which basically translate as Mother’s Mother and Mother’s Father. It’s a brilliant way of actually being able differentiate easily! If it was on my Dad’s side it would be Farmor and Farfar (Father’s Mother etc). When we have kids I think I will definitely use encourage the use of Mormor for my Mum at least!
My friends Mum wanted a name to be called by her grandchildren that didn’t make her sound old so came up with the name Geri…short for geriatric!
Our baby hasn’t arrived yet and it’s already been an interesting debate on the names both sides will use. As it is the first grandchild on both sides we asked both sets of parents what they’d like taking into account that I already have a Grandma and Grandad and until recently had a Nanna and Grandad too. My in laws have chosen Nana and Gramps and my Dad has chosen Papa, my Mum is still struggling to chose so we came up with Nanaly (her name is Alison – obviously) and its stuck with us as we like it so much – not sure about my Mum’s real thoughts though! I think she is hoping the babt will pick and she’ll become Nana Seaside or something similar… x
Only just had a chance to read this…good timing thoughas we’ve just had Nana & Grandad (my husband’s parents who live about 2 hours away) to stay and then my parents (also Nana and Grandad…or should I say “gangatt” which is George’s word for Grandad!…who live 10mins away and who George sees every week)… to visit on saturday night and it was the first time they’ve all been together around George since his 1st Birthday last May, when he wasn’t quite as aware of everything. Before Nana and Grandad arrived for the weekend I kept referring to them as “other nana and grandad” which doesn’t seem very clear to a 22month old and then when my mum and dad arrived for dinner George kept calling them the “other ones”. It was all very confusing!!! We really need to come up with something else…my mum refuses to be called grandma and my husbands parents are already nana and grandad to my nieces and nephews…argh!!
Oh I love Geek-Car – most awesome name ever!
I called my grandparents Gamma, Gramps, Nana, Terry, Grandad and Pat. My parents are called Omi and Pops and my in-laws are Nanna and Grandad. All so confusing but wonderful all the same!
Both Nanas wanted to be called Nana (Grandma being to elderly sounding for mere 70 year olds).
So instead of using their surnames to differentiate, I used to say Nana and sign ‘DOG’ for the nana with a dog and say Nana and sign ‘CAT’ for my Mum who’s neighbours have cats.
So my poor mum is now known as Nana Cat (maybe she should have opted for Grandma after all!)
We are Grandma and Grandad, my Mum is Nan!