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Problem Solving => Grandchildren => Topic started by: Doe on November 07, 2011, 09:06:22 AM

Title: Names
Post by: Doe on November 07, 2011, 09:06:22 AM
I'm curious how some of you GMs got your names? 

The one name that I didn't want to be called is the one name that DIL wanted me to be called so when she was talking to me there was a little awkwardness there.

So did you say, call me "__"?  Or did your AC decide what the GC would call you? 
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Sassy on November 07, 2011, 09:39:45 AM
I don't think this story is unusual, but as first grandchild, I chose one of my grandmother's grandmother names as I was learning to speak and it stuck.  I can't imagine it would have been her choice to be called....moo moo. 
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Scoop on November 07, 2011, 09:48:35 AM
I think that the parents are usually the ones who give the GP's their names, if only because they're speaking these names to the kids even before they can speak for themselves.  Occasionally, the GK will get stuck on a name and it will stick.

I think it's okay to have a conversation with the parents saying "Please don't call me Xxx to the kids - I really have negative associations with that name".  For example, my Mom really doesn't like "Nana" as a GP reference, fair enough because it's not a common GP name in our culture.

However, if you're insisting on being called something, be prepared for some resistance.  Some parents don't LIKE terms like Glam-ma (Goldie Hawn's GP name, I believe).  ;D
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Doe on November 07, 2011, 09:51:11 AM
Moo Moo-

I Love This!

Sassy -  I did have the talk, asking not to be called that one name.   It was a little ironic that it was the only one that DIL really wanted to use.
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Doe on November 07, 2011, 09:51:58 AM
I meant Scoop..
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Pooh on November 07, 2011, 10:03:56 AM
My YS allowed me to pick my own and we stayed away from GM names we already had around the family.  I'm a MiMi.
Title: Re: Names
Post by: lancaster lady on November 07, 2011, 10:13:57 AM
I picked mine too ....GD has just learned to say it .....<3
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Pooh on November 07, 2011, 10:18:42 AM
And traditionally in our family, whatever the first GC either chooses to pick or what the GM picks and the grandchild uses, the rest follow along.  My Mom picked MamMaw (my brother asked her what she wanted) and when first GD came along, when she tried to say it, she would say "MeMaw", so it stuck and all the other grandchildren that came along called her that.
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Pooh on November 07, 2011, 10:22:35 AM
Quote from: lancaster lady on November 07, 2011, 10:13:57 AM
I picked mine too ....GD has just learned to say it .....<3

I tried for months to get my GD to say mine.  I would look at her and beg..."Come on, say Mimi....MI..MI...you can do it..."

She wouldn't do it and would just grin until we got in the middle of 500 people at a football game and she was trying to climb down the bleachers and I said, "Nuh huh young lady" and pulled her back up.  She turned, put her hands on her hips and screamed at the top of her lungs "MEEEEEEMEEEEEEE!!!!!!"

Red heads.......
Title: Re: Names
Post by: lancaster lady on November 07, 2011, 10:26:54 AM
aww Pooh ....cute though !

as my DH is of Italian decent and my GD has our last name we chose Papa and Nona .....!
now the other GM chose Nana , after I chose mine .....hmmm! Confusing we thought ,
However my little sunbeam shouts her Nona with correct pronunciation at the top of her voice !
That's my girl !
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Pooh on November 07, 2011, 10:47:00 AM
They are smart little cookies!
Title: Re: Names
Post by: pam1 on November 07, 2011, 12:36:09 PM
The first born grandchild usually picks in our family.  It seems they just start calling them whatever it is and it sticks and then the rest follow suit
Title: Re: Names
Post by: FAFE on November 09, 2011, 03:44:29 PM
I'm sure I have posted this before.  My brother next to me called me Fafe as he could not say my given name.  The other 4 children followered him.  When the grandchildren started coming along I was Aunt Fafe.  (Some still call me that.)  Anywho, my daughter told me one time that if/when she had children she wanted them to call me Fafe.  So, when my OS got married, my DIL was in a quandary as to what to call me.  I suggested a Japanese name (as long as it was not a bad word), but she would not do that.  So, I just told her to call me Fafe.  When their child was born that is what he called me and now the other one is trying really, really hard to say Fafe (NOT!).  But, she will one of these days. 
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Nana on November 10, 2011, 12:28:46 AM
Dear Doe
When my first grandchild was born (boy) my son and dil would refer to me as Grandmom, but I thought and thought how I wanted to be called and I decided that I wanted Nanny.  So One day I told my son and dil and son that I wished to called Nanny.  They agreed and started calling me Nanny.  The baby was about 9 months old by then.  So when my gs started speaking he just said Nana with a strong accent in the last A, and so it was.  The second gc (girl) just followed and the third one who is not speaking yet will also follow.  For me the sweetest word to my ears is how my gc call me. 

I also thought my dil wouldnt like me chosing how my gc would call me, because back then was disrespectful and mean to me, but I remember she smiled and said ""Ok". phew! 

Love

Title: Re: Names
Post by: Doe on November 10, 2011, 06:44:50 AM
I love these stories!
While she was pregnant, DIL and DS referred to me with the name I didn't want and I asked if we could use another name.  DS hated the one I liked and chose another.  DIL agreed but just about every time she referred to me as a GM, she would say the one she wanted then correct herself.  DIL and DS treated my request like it took tremendous effort on their part but they were willing to humor me. 
I didn't see the problem, since DIL had admonished me about not putting the 'ie" on the end of her name once and I complied with her wishes to call her what she wanted.
The way things are now, I can't imagine what they are calling me!  But thanks everybody for sharing your sweet stories.
Title: Re: Names
Post by: pam1 on November 10, 2011, 07:37:56 AM
Lol

My cousin and her mom do not get along very well.  Anyway, when cousin had her first child they kept asking her mother what she wanted to be called, she would refuse to talk about it.  So the baby ended up calling her peepee (I think the baby was trying to say something like meme but it sounded like peepee) and then her mom of course wasn't happy with that (yes, her mom is a doozy of a woman) and made the baby call her by her first name.   So that's how my cousins family does it, their grandmother is just called by her first name.
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Doe on November 10, 2011, 07:40:03 AM
Gawd, how funny!
Title: Re: Names
Post by: sesamejane on November 10, 2011, 05:38:07 PM
This is a sore spot for me; a raw wound. 

I loved my grandmother very much and called her Nana (pronounced nah nah).  She died in 75, and I looked forward to being called Nana when my turn came. 

When my ds and dil had their first child, I was called Nana, and loved it. When my eldest grandson was four and my youngest grandson was one, my ds and dil exploited my mother's dementia to gain $$$, and moved her out of state without telling anyone where they were, then dumped her two years later - I found out that they encouraged my grandchildren to call her Nana, and I actually found a letter from my ds to my dm telling her that *she* was the only Nana.  He insinuated that he was rejecting me in his letter (to gain her cooperation I think), and this was when he and dil were pretending to have a relationship with me - they did not tell me any of this and had not had a relationship with my mother for five years (long story-she insulted dil on her wedding day).  I'm trying to make this short but just to say that the name is gone to me now.  If my dds have children, I think I will go with the flow and will withhold my two cents.  I don't care what they call me as long as they love me and allow me to love them.

Not so sweet a story but one I have to live with.  Sorry if it is vague or abstract.
Title: Re: Names
Post by: jaybop210 on November 10, 2011, 06:47:04 PM
Hi Doe... This is my 1st GC.... and I was simply "assigned" the name "Grandma" because, I think, all 4 of my sons had called my Mom "Grandma", and his girlfriend's family have all used "Nana", so that's the name her mother got.  I personally would not have ever insisted on a particular name....Maybe you can just ask them what name they'd like to call you.
Title: Re: Names
Post by: tiredmom on November 17, 2011, 11:13:11 AM
Love this thread!

I wanted to be "Grandma" but GS had other ideas. He chose "Mawmaw" He could make "G" sound because my mom was "Granny" to all her GC. The more I tried to prompt him into "Grandma" the more he insisted on "Mawmaw" LOL
I finally gave in like a "good Mawmaw" and accepted it!    :)
Title: Re: Names
Post by: Glenda on November 21, 2011, 05:39:19 AM
I'm Nana & my dh is Papa.  I picked Nana, but dh wanted to be called Grandpa, he got Papa cause 1st gc would only call him Papa.  We tried & tried to get 1st gc to say grandpa, just wasn't going to happen.  Papa loves his name now, & all the gc call him Papa!!  Dh is just like a big, cuddly, Papa bear.  lol  I wonder if that's why he got his name!!   :)
Title: Re: Names
Post by: sesamejane on November 22, 2011, 11:55:50 AM
My sister is called "Me-ner" by her grandchildren because they could not say Memaw.  So funny and so cute. :-*
Title: Re: Names
Post by: faithZeldas1 on November 22, 2011, 01:24:49 PM
My son only had twice a year visits & I'm a single parent- he called them Framma & Big Framma! : )