Obviously I like the name NANA, and my grandson had no problem pronouncing it. Whatever you're called, being a grandparent is the most wonderful feeling in the world!

My Grandchildren call me Nana and I love it. My Children called my mother Nana and it makes me think of her when they call me Nana . Being a Mother was wonderful but being a grandparent is the end all... Congradulations!!

I originally started out as Nanny but now my grandaughter has shortened it to Nann which I like even better.

My friend's kids' call their granparents "Pops & Mops"

Congratulations! Anticipating the babys birth is so exciting! And it is fun to imagine hearing the little darling say your name. Waiting for the grandchild to "choose" what to call you could be the best way to go, they can come up with some good ones! I didn't realize how speech patterns develop and wondered why so many kids used "Nana". Turned out that was what he said first and it just melted us! We have several adult step-grandchildren which brought on a whole new vocabulary of possibities, Grandma "Dub" is my favorite - last name starts with "W" so "Dub" for short. The fact that she would want to use grandma at all as an adult just thrills me since she already had maternal/paternal grandparents(parents married when she was early 20's)!

I, too, thought that being a grandma was just too overwhelming and having a grandchild call me grandma just made me feel too old. My DH also jumped on Papa, it is right for him and easy for a toddler to say. But what kind of name for me? We tried all kinds and none were quite me. One day I was talking to another grandma and she told me that she had all her grandkids call her Mima. (me-ma -- spell it any way you want) The name just clicked with me and when we told DGS to call me that HE liked it and it was easy for him to say. So go with what the children want to call you. The love is all there no matter what. Now that he is getting a little older he is starting to call me Grandma like his big brother does and you know what it doesn't bother me at all! All I need is the love he gives me. ;-)
Mima L

I hate the "G" word - so I chose to be called Nana. Both of my boys said my name right after they learned Mama (and before Dada) which I thought was really great! They are almost 2 and 3 now and they call me Nanny or Nanny-Bannany.
Grandchildren are so much more fun than our own children ever were! Congrats!

i call my grandparents mommom and poppop, my mom called her one set of grandparents mammy and pappy, and her other grandmother mummsy...i always liked mommom and poppop cause its two moms and pops together..and they always were like my second set of parents...thats how I always looked at it :)

I'm Greek and my grandson calls my wife Ya Ya, which is Greek for grandmother. I am called Pahpoo, Greek for grandfather.

Vickey,
Congratulations, you will love being a grandparent. I do. I just got my second grandchild three weeks ago. I too am called Nana and hubby is called PopPop. My 3yr grand daughter also calls me Abuela and hubby Abuelo in Spanish for Grandmother and Grandfather. I have been teaching her a second language since she first started talking. Whatever you choose to be called, when you first hear it, it will melt your heart, truely.
Patti

I wanted my grandkids to call me grandma, but they couldn't quite get their tongues around the "g" sound. My twin grand-daughters came up with "Bomma" all on their own, but it took me a while to realize they were talking about me.

I have 8 grandchildren from 1 year to 16 years of age. The oldest one called me MeMe and all of the others have followed. It's easy to say when they are babies. Now that some are older they sometimes call me Grandma and sometimes still MeMe. One of the older ones calls me Mems. When I turn my cell phone on, the 16 year old has programed it to say "Hi MeME!" I love it.
Grandchildren are God's way of rewarding you for not killing your children.

When I was a child "Grandma" came out as "Nana" - as I'm sure that's how LOTS of Nanas were named. My nephew's Grandma came out 'Mimi" - he's now 17, she's 85 and she's still "Mimi" - pretty much to the world at large now A friend's Grandchildren call her Grandma Beau for the name of her golden lab! ! Me? I'm Nana - the other grandma's already called Grandma D - so I adopted my own childhood nickname for MY grandmother - Nana. Guess what happens is the little ones often just gravitate into their nicknames for those who love them!

When my mother became a grandmother, she didn't want to be called a "grandma". She chose Nonnie. It is Italian, although we are not.

My niece's son(he's almost 1 1/2) has started my mom, his great granmother, GG. We haven't gotten around to spelling it out yet.
My Irish MIL called the library when expecting her first grandchild. She asked the research area what the Celtic word for grandmother would be. The answer, Shamnahaird. She'd say it something like Sham-ma-har. I don't think I spelled that right but the grandkids all call her Shammie.

I have a friend whose grandmother was "Mee Mee". Her great grandmother was known as "Muu Muu", and her great great grandmother was "Mo Mo"! I think it is hilarious, trying to keep up with who she is talking about when she mentions them, but it makes perfect sense to her!

How about Mama and Papa? The parents will be Mommy and Daddy. I called my Grandmother "Mama". I never cared for Nana, always sounded like a shortened form of banana to me.

I am the happy grandmother of 13, oldest 17, youngest 4 months. I have always been called Nana or Nanny, I did not want to be Grandma, I was 34 when I had my first grandchild, I was to young to be grandma, So NANA worked for me. Because with the extended family my Husbands x-wife became Grandma Mary, and my step-son-in-laws mother became Grandma Nancy.

Congratulations Vickey! i'm in the same boat as you, i'm only 43 and DH's lovely (and i mean that) daughter went and made me a grandma (YAY!!!) but i'm going with either Mimi (what my dearest friend and her brothers called their grandmothers) or Nana ...Mimi Vickey, heyyy i like that! Thru the years, all of the little tykes i've known pronounce my name as "lion" ...our joy is only 17 days old tho so i'll have to wait a while to see which i'll end up being ...Mimi Lion or Nana Lion :o) .....OR, you could wait 'n see what comes out, for instance, in my immediate family i'm known as Auntie Ahbah or just plain Ahbah because while she could kinda pronounce everyone else's name, mine was much more difficult for her and we practiced and practiced with her until the one day when her mom asked, who's that? when i walked into the room, and my niece smiled and very deliberately pointed to me and said, ah-BAH! :o)

my first grandson called me "gammy" for a long time, but now that he's 5, it's grammy. DH is poppy! he loves it but guys at his work razz him about it. i also didn't want to be called grandma! too rigid & OLD sounding. LOL. grammy suits me fine & i'm a young 100lb, frosted blond "grammy". so doesn't really matter, as long as they all love me!!

In reading this thread I've noticed something very interesting...do we call our grandmothers something diffrent depending on geographic region? I'm from Ohio and call mine grandma; my dad called his grandmother "Grammy" (who lived in SE Pennsylvania). When I later moved to that region I noticed people either called grandparents "grammy" (which up til then I always thought was unique to my dad and his grandmother) or "mom mom and pop pop." Interesting, eh?

(I hope you all could understand this complicated post. LOL!)

My one and only granddaughter (2-1/2 yrs) calls my husband Poppa and me Grandmore. LOL. I love her soooo much. I told her we are her icing on the cake, the whip cream on her ice cream, the cherry on top of her whip cream. We are all the good things. We enjoy her so very much.

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My son calls my parents, Grandma and Deeda. My niece originated the Deeda - she just flipped Daddy - and now all of his grandkids call him that.

He calls his paternal grandparents Momo & Poppi.

Three g'daughters and absolutely adorable. My husband is Poppy and I am Grandma (the littlest one calls me Grams and him Pop--her own version, ha!) When I hear the word Grandma, my heart smiles.

We waited to see what the first grandchild came out with on their own. I was so surprised and pleased at what she called us. I'm Gig Ghee and my hubby is PaPa. My greatgrand mother was Gig Ghee and we'd never heard it except for her and had not thought of that one at all. I can't begin to tell you how much it meant that she chose the name for me. They can come up with such cute names on their own and usually do in spit of what we want to be called. Congrats, your in for a real treat no matter what your called.

You might just go with grandma Vicki. My first grandchild called me grandma Littler(my last name), but the other grandma was grandma Betty and I thought it sounded better, but thought grandma would be strange with my first name(but yet, with my last name it sounded 'distant'). So when the second grandchild came, I didn't care anymore and now I'm grandma Ginger(nickname). Sounded funny at first, but now no one thinks anything of it. And now both kids call me grandma Ginger.

Nana is certainly good, and easy to pronounce. My only objection to my kids calling their grandmother "Nana" has to do with a friend I had while growing up. This friend had a nanny that she called "Nana" (and still does) and her grandparents were Gramma and Grampa.

Ever since then, I've always related "Nana" to a nanny. Not that you would be viewed as their nanny rather than their gramma............

Well....I have 7 grands ( and grand they are!)..I called myself "gramma" to them from the first moment. They came up with their own variations...."gamma"...."Ahma"....and one I liked a lot but they have outgrown it..."Gamma Deeda"...couldn't say Linda.
To my face I am Gramma......when talking about me...I'm grandma Linda to distinguish from Grandma Rose, Grandma Mildred, Grandma Merle, Grandma Judy, grandma Jeanette, grandma Mary Jean and grandma Frances....as you see, with all the greats and the steps, it's quite a crew!
Linda C

I call my mother 'mo' for short. My mom then started signing her cards to my dd 'grammo'. Kimmy, now 19mos, calls her 'momo' and my mom LOVES that!

In our family, thru the generations, the firstborn grandkid comes up with the names on his or her own. Usually it starts as a typical name like Grandma or something, but because of their funny pronunciations, it morphs into something that is usually endearing. My granddad was Lala, a name that was coined by the first grandson, and all us grandkids used. He loved having such a charming name. So far, my DD calls my parents, Grandma and Granddaddy. And because they're spanish, my inlaws are Abuelo and Abuela. Sometimes, simple is good. But I guess all I'm saying is, let the children come up with a name that hopefully, will be positively delightful for all!

I'm Gramma. My ex is Grampa. On my SIL's side it's Yaya and Pahpoo (Greek). I absolutely agree that whatever name your grandkids call you, it'll be beautiful. Nothing compares with having that 3 yr old bundle of energy I have the honor and privilige of calling granddaughter run up to me yelling "Gramma! Gramma! Gramma!" My grandson who will be 2 in the fall is working on his own way of saying my name. He's more standoffish than she ever was but when he cuddles up to me just because he wants to I almost cry.

Now I know why my daughter survived her teens years, still not sure how! ;p

When my DH referred so lovingly to his maternal "grandma" I just liked the warmth of that sound. My own g'mother was called Big Mama and that had nothing to do with her size; she was not a large person and I don't know how she got that name but it stuck and it seemed to fit. Maybe because her heart was so big. When we had our first child it was just natural to call her paternal g'parents Grandma and Grandpa, but my parents were called Grandmother and Granddaddy. I called myself Grandma to my grandchildren because it reminded me of the affection my DH had for his g'parents, and he is grandpa to our grands. I'm mid 60's, a bottle blonde, and I love it when I get on the computer and I get an IM from my GD and I read "HI GRANDMA!" It's great!

My grandchildren generally call me grandma, but when they are having fun they call me Fairy Grandmother or Graham-ma Cracker and others, I wouldn't care what they called me as long as we are having a good time. You will find that they are so precious you will accept whatever they want to call you.

here in france grandmothers are called "mamie"(the a is short) or "mémé". i personally prefer mamie because mémé sounds so old lol

Congradulations on the upcoming arrival. I have 4 grand children and been called many things starting out because the little one has to get use to saying the letters. I am called grandma by the oldest, girl who is 7, I am also called Mam-ma by the second, who is a boy and is 4 & has trouble with some of his letters. Then the 2 yearold, boy, calling me bomma to gamma. The youngest is to little to say what yet. You will enjoy hearing their little voices no matter how they manage to say "GRANDMA". Enjoy and have a good day.

hi
well i became a grandmom 2 years ago and since im only 42 and vain lol my daughter asked me what i wanted matti to call me when he starts talking. i said well lets wait and see what he comes up with well he called me gubby one day so since that day im gubby ! lol and when im out with him and he call's me gubby we do get some strange look's but we know what he means and thats all that counts

Hi all! Our 10 month old grandsson and his Daddy live with us. We are NaNa and Granddad and Daddy is Daddy and aunt is Kay. Little guy tries all of these as best he can (Kay comes out as a little cough, so cute!) and we will see what he comes up with. We are so blessed! Our kids called their grandparents Granny Flo, Granny Irene and Grandpa Ray. As there were step kids and grandkids, it worked great.

I am "Gaggy" and my husband is "Gip". We wanted to be Granny & Grampy but when our granddaughter was little she couldn't say those names. Gaggy & Gip was as close as she could get and I think she has set the name for all the future ones. We were reading a story a few months back about a little bunny and her "Grandma". She said, I don't have a Grandma. I said, "You don't?" She said, "Yes, I do, it's you Gaggy..." She's four years old now. Last month, I told her that she could start calling me Grandma if she wanted to. She said "No, you're Gaggy!" Ha. So, I guess that's gonna be it and that's just fine.

I am Grammy to my granddaughters and DH is Papa. When those beautiful grandbabies start talking it won't matter if they call you "green bean" it will sound like the most beautiful name in the world. :).

Last week my now 4 year old granddaughter looked at me with those big beautiful eyes and said, "Will you be my best Grammy?" So I've been Gramma all along but now I'm turning into Grammy. Thank goodness she talks so clearly, granny would never do. Her little brother has just started saying "Bye bye Gramma I love you!" when we part. I love being Gramma, Grammy, Grandma, however they say it. Just never ever Granny. LOL

I hope I'm not too late to chime in.
I called my grandparents Nana and Papa, and those names have a special place in my heart. I hope you give the name Nana some consideration. Nana and Papa mean "grandma" and "Grandpa" in Polish. My Nana was German and my Papa was Mexican, so nationality had nothing really to do with it, but they chose the Polish form of the words to be their special endearment because it meant alot to them. They've both been diceased for over twelve years now, so sadly I cannot ask them why they chose their nicknames. But to me, Nana and Papa go together. I wouldn't choose one without the other.
Oh, and by the way, my Nana was 36 when I was born, and she had a son that is nine months older than me. So Nana is a name for a young grandmother, too!

I let my grandchild call me what she wanted and of course that is what all of the others did also. I was so delited with her choice and it was far better than anything I could have come up with. She looked at me and called me the same thing that we called my greatgrandmother! to my delite. She calls me Gig Ghee!!!

My grandchildren call me "Mamama" and my husband "Papa". I started out calling myself Grandmama (with the emphasis on mama) and the grandchildren started calling me Mamama.....sometimes Mama.
Being a "Mamama" is the BEST!! Love my precious angels!

My niece and nephew have the funniest names for their grandparents. I'm not sure where they came from-I think it was just something the first grandchild could say. FIL is BeBob (his first name is Bob) and MIL is MeMom (Her name is Margie, but matched the BeBob one I guess)

My mom is "Omi" which is german for granny. It's pronounced "oh-mee" and is easy for a small child to say.

My mom loves it!

My dad is granpa or papa, and my stepmom is Nana Christine or nana.

Keli

Hi addictedtoroses,

Anyone with such an addiction ... can't be all bad.

When I saw your intro, I thought,

"Never too late
to par-ti-ci-pate".

So - welcome aboard. But - you were here before I was.

Wife's Mom, a teacher, willing to be dragged into aged category only kicking and screaming - encouraged kids to call her "Grammy".

When she visited us in Korea, not too many years after Korean war, Korean women, many of whom lived really tough lives, couldn't believe that she was Sue's mother - swore she was her sister. Now several years departed this life.

I think their Mom's Dad, who died when they were under 10, was "Grandpa": mine was (their Grandpas were never together). I don't remember what they called my stepmother - "Grandma", I think.

They were somewhat older: I was married at 30, son born two years later.

Son, now past 40, born in Korea, never married - no children (to speak of).

Daughter, nearing 40, married over 13 years ago (she proposed). After about 5 years, hubby came home, announced he'd met his "dream ___" - and it wasn't her. (Don't remember the other part of the word, at the moment). Over 8 years ago.

I said that I was glad there were no children, she said, "The way things were for the last while, Dad - I wasn't about to have any".

She found a friend, introduced by a high school buddy that she's stayed friends with over the years, with whom she seems to have been getting on well, about a year and a half ago. He in Toronto - she in AZ.

We've seen some more of her in the past year or so.

Smart, vivacious, multi-faceted, caring.

A person to be proud of. And thankful for.

Good wishes to you and yours for the coming days.

joyful guy/Ed

Well, today, my son is making me a grandma, I wanted a good celtic name for grandma, I went to grandparent.com and found many that I have not heard before, the one I found is Ne-Ma, I hope you will find one calls to you, as mine called to me.

I was in an extended family situation and the step grand kids called me grandma Emma. Having 3 or 4 grandmothers makes it difficult for them.

Well, from my screen name, I am Gigi. I LOVE it! The oldest grandchild kind of sets the scene on this one; Nancy made this name, somehow, out of Nana....I know, who'd have thought? But I loved Gigi! I was in my 40's when she was born (she's 8)...no way was I going to be called Granny. I still had 2 kids at home! and now there ARE 8! We have 5 children, so this surely isn't the end....only the beginning! LOL! They all live within a few blocks of us and I'm so very thankful! And love hearing them call my name! Oh, and hearing, "Gigi, you're the best!"

Best of luck and congrats!
Kathy

I get called Mammar - I spelled it that way - but it is said like mam and mars (without the s) mammar. It started out as MUMMAR when they were little babies then went to MAMMAR as their speech developed. If they can say MUM they can say my chosen name :d

My oldest grandkid is 16 and he still calls me mammar. The youngest is 10 months and she too will call me mammar. My mother is Omi(German) - or Yomi yogurt from my kids and grandkids - or nanny from all my siblings kids. I like to be different of course. My mothers DH is called Opa from all my kids and grands. The others call him pop. MY mothers mother was Nana to all us kids growing up.

Yes, it does have a lot to do with geography and culture as well. Find something you are going to like to hear because you are going to hear it until the day you die, so you HAVE to like it yourself :d

Mammar is a very easy word to say even for the little babies.

Blessings...........