Friday, April 16, 2021

N is for Guess Who

We've crossed the halfway point in the A-Z Blog Challenge and today have landed on letter N...

N is for Nana

When you know you're going to be a grandparent there are many things to consider. One of the first is settling on what name you'd like to be called. Or maybe your children decide for you? I know quite a few grandparents who let the grandchild come up with a name, but that can be risky teehee

Growing up we called both sets of my own grandparents Grandma and Grandpa. We'd often add their surname so everyone was clear on which grandmother or grandfather we were referencing. When my niece was born she called my mom Mema and my Dad Poppie, so when my daughters were born this is how they were introduced. 

My sister had a son some sixteen years after my youngest was born and he likes to call my mom Mimi. I think she prefers this name, but my girls have a lot to say about it-ha! He's the only grandson though, so I think it's okay. 

My girls called hubs parents Grandma and Grandpa so there was never any confusion over which side of the family we were discussing. One of my grandmothers lived to spend many years knowing my girls, her great granddaughters, and she went from being called Grandma to the new name GiGi, for great-grandma. 

Also, she was so special and I miss her. 

When my turn rolled around my daughter asked both sets of grandparents what they would like to be called and we all weighed in. Her mother-in-law chose a nickname she used to call a favorite aunt who was very dear to her and her father-in-law wanted to be called by his first name. They put the kibosh on that though, so he added Papa in front of his first name and that's what he's called. 

Hubs wanted to go by the same name as his own grandpa so he's Pawpaw. I'm here to tell you it sounds super precious when spoken aloud by little boys. 

So what about me? When we lived in the UK the girl who cut our hair would come to our house, and we became friends. She was about the age my daughters are now and we looked forward to her visits. Quite often she would talk about her grandparents, specifically her Nan. It was so completely endearing that I decided way back then I would someday be Nana. 

And now I am. 

For a while it was NeNe which was also the mancub's word for banana. Since nothing gets by him I imagine his brain was working hard trying to piece together how the two were connected, but he’s got it now. 

There is nothing quite so sweet as hearing your name on the lips of tiny humans who you love more than words can say. 

Are you a grandparent? What are you called by the ones you love? What did you call your own grands?

11 comments:

  1. Dear Joyce, your blog is always a delight to read and this one is very timely as I am preparing for the very much anticipated arrival of my first grandchild in August. I have been thinking about just that question of how I'd like to be called and am yet undecided. My own grandma was Nagyi and Grandpa was Nagypapi in Hungarian, which non of my children speak, and my mum was Savta which is grandmother in Hebrew. Again my children don't speak that language either. I still have a few months to settle on a name or it will be decided for me. ��

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  2. What a lovely read on a Friday morning. I called my grandparents grandma and grandpap. I only had one set from my mother's side. Sometimes we called grandpap, "Happy Pappy" as he was quite the jokester.
    I am called "Nina" by my grandchildren. It is how the first one pronounced Grandma. I think it suits me well.

    I live reading your posts. All the best to you and yours.

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  3. We are Nanny and Grandpa to all our Grands. The eldest called me Nana for a while but it didn't stick. My Mum was Nanny to my kids and my Dad if he'd still been alive would most likely have been Granddad. Hubby's parents were always Grandma and Grandpa.

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  4. We had the problem where all 4 sets of our parents wanted to be called gramdma/grammy and grandpa/grampy. But my kids did end up coming up with their own nicknames for them all so we could tell them apart and occasionally as a new niece or nephew made the way into the family the nickname changed (and then again as my kids got older). Many years later my mother confided that she wished she had been memere but at the time her mother was still alive that I called memere and she felt too young to be a memere but being older she wishes she had that link to her French heritage.

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  5. We are grandparents and picked Gran and Pop(s). Sometimes she calls him Pop and sometimes Pops. Along came granddaughter #2 (girls are cousins). She is 20 months and she says, "Bop" and "Man" . . .I assume she will eventually say Pop and Gran but for now . . .it is pretty cute!!

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  6. We are grandparents to seven awesome boys and one amazing girl. They range in age from fifteen to almost three. Our first grandson call us Drampa and Dramma because he couldn't say the hard G sound. I really hoped it would stick but it didn't and we eventually became Gramma and Grampa. We spell it that way because that's the say it sounds when they say it. Their other grandparents chose different names too so there is never any confusion about who we are referring to. One set is Nana and Pip, one is NeNe and Poppy and the last is Nana and Grampy John.

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  7. I am Grandma. Joe was Grandpop. My grandparents were (dad's side) Granny & Pawpaw. My mom's folks were divorced so we had two sets of grandparents on her side. They were both Grandma & Papaw but when referring to them we added the last names to keep it all straight. We were fortunate that they all got along and were frequently all together for holidays. It was kinda nice have three sets of grandparents growing up (more presents!). I do remember my great-grandma on my dad's side but she passed when I was around six. I enjoyed your post!! xo

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  8. Such a great nana and so young! Sweet post and photos!

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  9. Such a sweet post. My sister is a Nana and BIL is Pops. I felt I was good being Grandma. James hasn't called me anything yet. Mark wanted to be Gramps like his favorite grandfather. However James has decided to call him papa. My dad's great grandchildren called him GG. He never got to meet James in person but he did meet his great great grandson.

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  10. Joyce,

    I think it's wonderful you and your husband found good names for your grandsons to address you as. I came up with ours for our granddaughter and after nearly a year of going by these names, my daughter informs me she doesn't want our granddaughter to refer to DH by the name we picked. What a mess that has been! Anyway, by all means it's definitely a good idea to get things ironed out long,long before the grand baby arrives. If I had to do this over then I'd do it differently for sure.

    Nasty Canasta Looney Tunes A-Z Art Sketch

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