October 08, 2004

• On my mom's side, Nanaw and Granddad (I'm gonna be Granddad someday). On my dad's side, Grammy and Paw Paw. My mom is Nanny to her grandkids, and dad is Pop.
• my maternal's were Gramma and Grampa (very sweet people) my father's mom died when he was 12 :( I have no idea whether his father still lives or not, he wasn't a very nice dad :( my parents are gp's now, and my niece calls mom gramma, but she calls my dad Charlie, cuz he is WHIPPED!! heehee :D
• Although there are no grandkids yet, my mother has already said she wants to be called "Mimi" after her own grandmother. My maternal grandparents were Nana & Papa. I was always rather fond of that set of names.
• My grandma was Mama and my granddad was Pappy
• Grandma & Grandpa Granny & Granddad Grandpa John (Grandma's second husband) Nana (great-grandmother) Mom is Mama when I'm being especially affectionate Dad or Poppa, same reasons
• my maternal grandmother (the southern redneck side) I called MamMaw and my paternal grandmother was (and is) called Baci, which is a Polish diminutive for grandmother.
• With the syrup-thick southern accent I had as a child: Grammaw and Grampaw. I never knew my paternal grandparents, as they passed on almost twenty years before I was born.
• I'm the oldest on my father's side, and at that point, she wanted to be Liz. By the time the young ones rolled around, she was ready to be Granby Liz, or Granby. My grandfather didn't live long enough to choose another incarnation of his name. My mom's side? Mi abuelita. I often claimed her as mine. Me! Mine!
• Spooky: How to pronounce, Botchie? Bockie? Bocksie?
• My maternal grandmother was Nana. She absolutely loved it when I used to call her Nana-banana.
• Especially heart-wrenching thread right now. I just got off the phone with my Gramps. His wife, my Nana, died last night.
• Terribly sorry, HawthorneWingo. Condolences to you and your Gramps.
• The one grandparent of five (four blood + 1 step) that survived into my childhood died after a long, difficult illness when I was 11. She spent two years on life support before she left us. I can't remember for the life of me what I called her when I was little. *goes off to feel guilty and sad* On preview: So sorry to hear about your Nana, HawthorneWingo.
• On my dad's side, Nana and Pawpaw; on my mom's side, well, she never knew her father, so nothing there. Mabel died ten years ago sitting at the bar in someone's trailer, after being thrown out of the nursing home for fighting, shooting a man and being acquitted.
• My maternal grandmother I called "grandma". Oddly, that was what I called my paternal grandmother too. Both grandfathers were dead long before I was born. Had they not been, I suspect I would have called them both "grandad".
• Thanks, middleclasstool, immlass.
• I had two Nanas, one Grandad, and one Grad. My parents are Gedda and Pappy to my son, and #2's parents are Nana and Grandad. My condolences, HawthorneWingo. How very sad.
• On my father's side we have Grandma and Grandpop and on my mothers we have P-pop (I have no idea how this one started), Granny, and "Aunt" Doris. She is my step-grandmother, but my mom didn't feel comfortable with us calling her grandmom. Luckily, she agreed, and thus we started calling her Aunt.
• I only ever knew one of my granparents, my mom's mom, and she was always just Gramma. Slightly more intereting, my girlfriend refers to her grandmother as "Memom", which I had never heard before. So imagine my suprise when my niece started (unrelatedly) calling my mother "Memom", and as we all know, first grandkid has dibs on the grandparental naming rights, so I guess that's what my kids have to look forward to :)
• Baby? On my dad's side, my grandparents always lived far away and we didn't see them enough to develop special names. On my mom's side were (and still are) Papa and Bam -- when my sister was still learning to talk she couldn't "Gram" properly. It came out "Bam" and that stuck.
• In Swedish, we differentiate between maternal and paternal grandparents: the word for father is 'far' and mother is 'mor', thus paternal grandfather becomes 'farfar', paternal grandmother 'farmor', maternal grandfather 'morfar' and maternal grandmother 'mormor'. The more familiar terms daddy and mummy are 'pappa' and 'mamma', so using the same logic I called my paternal grandmother Pamma. Condolences, HawthorneWingo, best wishes to you and your family.
• Ma'am and Sir, respectively.
• Mom's parents: Granny and Papa. Dad's mom: Laloo; never knew Dad's father. Mom's dad's mom: Little Granny. mom's mom's mom: Big Granny. I've never heard an explanation as to why everybody called Laloo Laloo, and the spelling is my best phonetic guess. My mom's parents lived in our city when I was younger. They did the babysitting and all. And when I was pre-speech my parents apparently referred to them as "Granny and Grandpa." When I began to talk, those weren't the names I used, though, for whatever reason, and the new ones stuck. My nieces and nephews call my parents Didi (my mom's name is Dena) and Big Daddy, I believe. man, do i miss my Granny and Papa right now. My condolences, HawthorneWingo.
• mct, since Spooky hasn't come back to the thread yet, I'll say that the pronunciation is close to 'botchie'. I had three of them, though in our family we said 'babci', as in 'bobchie'. My parents' fathers were both 'dzia-dzia', pronounced 'dja-dja'. To tell 'em apart, we'd say "Babci in Rockville" or "Babci in Manchester". Babci in Manchester was just about the sweetest lady I've ever known. She died when I was ten, and she was only in her sixties. I still miss her all these years later.
• And condolences, too, HawthorneWingo.
• Thanks for all the condolences. You people rule. But it's okay for condolences to be implicit in future posts in this thread. My poor Gramps. He was putting on a brave face during our conversation, e.g. was talking about how much he wants the Red Sox to do better than the Yankees in the baseball playoffs, but a couple of times stopped and said, "I can't tell you how lonely it is." Getting old, man it sure seems like it sucks.
• After we spent a summer in a small town in Cyprus filled with old ladies in perpetual mourning, my girlfriend decided that she wants our (hypothetical) kids to call my mom Yaya, the affectionate title those grandmas got. (I think in Greek it's spelt Gia-gia, yielding the silly-looking Yiayia in English.) Oh, and mine were Grandmommy and Granddaddy paternally and Grandma and Grandpa paternally. But my other cousins on my mom's side called Grandmommy Geigy (pronounced GAI-gee, both hard), my oldest cousin's childhood mispronounciation. He still calls her that, even as he heads to Iraq as a recent USMA graduate. My great great aunt (lived to by 107) was known for her last 50 years as Tee, what my grandmother called her as a child, to just about everyone. I don't even know her real name, nor do I know Granny's, my great-grandmother. Nana, always what my various cousins called the Grandmother they didn't share with me, always seemed very alien. My obsession with old etiquette books reminds me that Amy Vanderbilt says that having children is often a useful end to the problem of what to call your parents-in-law, since you can just start calling them what your children call them as grandparents.
• Hmm, persian time. Maternal Grandma: Mamanjoon = Mother Dear Maternal Grandpa: Babayee = Diminitive of 'papa' Paternal Grandma: Maman = Mother Paternal Grandpa = Dead before I was born. So if I call my grandmothers Mother Dear and Mother, what do I call my actual Mother? "Modar" which means "Mother." I also have an aunt I call "Mamani" which means, more or less, "Motherish".
• to add to that real quick: my mom called her paternal grandparents "Agha Joon" and "Khanoom Joon" which means Dear Sir and Dear Ma'am. I think that's kind of cute.
• Mine are Grammie and Papa, both sides. The town I live in is extremly French though (my parents moved here shortly before I was born) and people here almost always use Memere and Pepere, pronounced memay and pepay. Until I was about 8 I had no idea what people were saying when they used these names.
• My maternal gp's were Nana and Papa. Paternals were Grandma & Grandpa. The one I miss the most is Nana - dreamer, cat lady, beauty shop owner with several machines that looked like torture devices. Someone who cooked whatever I wanted (I really wish I knew how she made that amazing chicken and egg noodles) when I visited, and let me stay up all night if I wanted, which I often did. She had trained as a teacher, and had a collection of books which I still have. Papa, on the other hand, was a tough sombitch. He ran away from his home in Illinois when he was 15 and wound up working in the oilfields in California. He went back to Illinois for a visit, and convinced Nana to come to California to marry him on the theory that this was paradise. It wasn't, but having left home, her choices were limited. They homesteaded 160 acres in an area called Devil's Den - which is pretty descriptive. To "perfect" the homestead, they had to live there for six months each year. My mother's playmates when she was little, were her dog, the chickens she would try to roost with at sundown, and trap door spiders. My Grandpa was about 30 when he married his 14 year old love. I could go on, but you're getting bored, I can tell. So, where are the stories from the rest of you?
• This is a very nice thread. Normal, everyday names for everyone in my family, except, my six-year old nephew always had a hard time saying Gramma and Grampa. Came out as; Domma and Dompa. And forever shall they be.
• Trying not to put their names online..Maternal: Momma Firstname and Daddy Firstname. Paternal grandfather died before I was born; grandmom was Granny Lastname. I would like grandchildren to call me Grandmere, and my husband wants to be called Oldy. Of course, we have no kids yet ...my mom's grandkids call her Memaw, my dad was Papaw. My inlaws have a brand new grandbaby that hasn't named them yet. My father in law is trying to get her to call him Grubby for some reason.
• I'm so sorry for your loss, HawthorneWingo. Your story of the phone call was especially touching, and makes me want to root even harder for the Red Sox. My paternal grandparents (Baby and Grand Dad) were first nicknamed by their 4 sons (my dad and my 3 uncles). They always called their folks "Doc" (Grand Dad was a dentist) and "Coonie" (she had captured a wild racoon and raised it as her pet years before I was born), how we came to call her "Baby" I don't know. I've heard them all before, so don't bother making any unsavory comments regarding her somewhat unusual nickname! ;] I miss them all the time. And, thanks for all the comments...it's pretty cool to see what a nice international community we have here.
• Gramma and Grumpa (Never to the crochety old fucks face though)
• Thanks for the shout-out, red cell. My maternal grandmother, whom we all called Bobo (I was the oldest, she wanted to be "grandmommy" and it came out Bobo, which my parents found hilarious and encouraged) just died last November. Bobo was one of my role models, and it's still hard to realize that she wasn't immortal! Anyway, Bobo was awesome. She was an exec in a large construction contractor, helped start Women in Construction, was the first (official) female in Kiwanis, and was a big-time church lady. Bobo nagged me to death, and we argued all the time because we both want to be the boss of everything! I'd love to have her holler at me again. My Paw Paw was more laid back. He only got mad when it really counted. The two had a beautiful marriage because they balanced each other out so well. (sorry for the long post! I've been missing them lately...)
• Mom Mom and Pop Pop. This seems like it was used for both sides, although only my dad's parents were living when I was born. Now that's what my nieces and nephews call my parents.
• Maternal: Grama and Pa. Grama because I decided Grama was how you spelled "Grandma" when I was three, and Pa because he said he was too young to be Grandpa. I was the oldest grandchild so the names stuck across the board. I call my Grama "Nan" a lot now though, kind of a family joke thing (her name is Nancy), but Nan is very nice and appropriate for a grandmother anyway. Paternal: Abuelo and Abuela. On the subject of nicknames, the extended family in Panama still calls my Abuela "Tia Bebe" (Aunt Baby) because "Bebe" was her nickname as a child. Nicknames last a LONG time in my father's family. My son is not old enough to make names yet, so we call my grandmother Nana (Great-Grandma is a mouthful for a little guy, and she's a young great-grandmother), and my parents are Grandma and Abuelo for now. My mother can't wait for him to get old enough to make up a cute name for her.
• meredithea!! My grandma was in NAWIC, too! Chapter 142 (I only know because I still have the cookbook they published for a fundraising project in my kitchen!) in Spokane, Washington. She was the first woman I knew working in a man's business and doing it quite well. She is/was amazing. She has dementia now and isn't long for this world, but she has always been my favorite and had such a strong, wonderful character.
• I didn't have any special names for my grandparents. Both grandfathers were dead years before I was born. I didn't like my paternal grandmother; she was a vicious, bigoted old cow. The vengeful god she believed in punished her with brutally severe Alzheimer's for the last 15 years of her life though, which was nicely karmic. I liked my maternal grandma. She was good-humoured, played cribbage like a demon and called me a "daft bugger" with great affection. I called her "Grandma".
• What a nice thread. Mine were Growler and Grampaw. My kids call my folks Grammy and Grumpy.
• maternal: Granma and Granpa (I think he had more nicknames for me than me for him). paternal: Nena and Babou. no clue on this one, I think a younger cousin came up with it and they seized on it because it was so "cute". paternal great grandmother: Mimi maternal great grandmother: Grandmother (lastname) and yeah, this is making me miss the ones who are gone especially fiercely.
• Father's side: Granny and Daddy Joe. Daddy Joe was a dapper gent who inspired in me a love for crossword puzzles and hats; I'll never forget him instructing me: "This is a gen-u-wine Panama, made in Ecuador." (He was old enough to remember crossing Oklahoma when it was still Indian Territory, and he always wore suspenders and spoke courteously to everyone.) Mother's side: Grandma and Grandpa Lastname. I didn't have much of a relationship with them because they, like the rest of my mother's family, lived in Iowa, and I found Iowa an intensely boring place and tended to avoid it. I'm looking forward to seeing what my grandson calls me when he's old enough to give me a name!
• On my Mum's side - Mémère and Pépère on account of her mum being half french ...
• Both grandfathers died before either of my parents were born, and I don't even know either of my grandmothers' real names, and haven't seen either of them for over fifteen years. Oh, sorry. You wanted heartwarming type crying. OK. I'll, er, leave...
• On mom's side: Gammy and Papa were given those names by my older cousin; a pronunciation issue, I'm told. On dad's side: There were no older cousins and I couldn't come up with anything more original than Grandma and Grandpa.
• I've only seen one of these written out before so the others are my own attempts to romanize Telugu. Both grandpas: Tataya Dad's mom: Nayanama Mom's mom: Ammamamma It's a little weird sometimes at family gatherings when my siblings and I are the only ones who call her Nayanama. (Our dad's an only son with several sisters.) I met my Nayanama's mom - Jayjayma - a couple times.
• I agree, this is a neat thread. Some great stories here. My maternal grandparents I called GramMa and Grampa, my paternal grandparents were Nana and Grumpy. I knew Nana's dad a short while, and he was Guthy. (don't know why--was English) Our grandkids call us GramMa and Grumpy, PaPa, or Grumpa. You Monkeys can call me GramMa. Go get a banana out of the banana jar.
• PY, thanks for pointing me to Telugu. At first I thought it might be a variation of Tagalog, but a litle Googling made the difference clear. So much to learn, so little time.
• Maternal: Poppie Ralph and Grammy Sharon Paternal: Poppie Don and Grandma Aili
• My mother's parents are Mimi and Poppy. My father's father died before I was born; his mother is Big Mama -- or just Big, these days. I'm not sure why. Either it was because this 5' and 100-pound woman was "big" to me as a toddler, or it was because I decided that, since she wasn't my mama but my daddy's mama, she was the Big Mama. I was lucky enough to know both sets of my great-grandparents for a short time. I called both of them Mamaw and Papaw lastname.
• Paternal: Mimi and Grampy. Mimi is in her 90s and will outlive us all. She's a sweet, tough lady. Maternal grandmother was Bubelah. Maternal grandfather died before I was born, and I don't know what my sibs called him. Though after reading this wonderful thread I'm going to find out. My older nieces call my parents Gramma and Grampa. My youngest niece calls them Manna and Poppa. I don't want to be a parent, but I'd love to be a grandparent. Any takers? Call me Crazy Sadie, and have a cigar.
• Have any of you gotten into genealogy? The need to do it seems to come one when you're in your 50's, and it does seems to satisfy a longing that you didn't know you had. But, for those who aren't there yet, I'd suggest that you start asking still living parents/grandparents/ aunts/uncles, etc., questions now about things. Their childhoods - where they lived, stories about their families and other relatives, what they know about their grandparents, and so on. And, take notes. Once they're gone, you won't be able to get the benefit of their memories. The need that I had that wanted to be satisfied was about my maternal grandmother's family. Her mother died in childbirth when my grandmother was 15, leaving Nana to raise her brothers and sisters. I think my grandmother yearned for her all her life My step sister was the actual spur for getting me into the research. She gave me a gift of a computerized genealogy program that made keeping track of it all pretty easy. (Family Tree Maker, but there are others out there.) She also did some field research on my family which gave me enough to get started, way before much was available online. And, there are a number of free online resources, The best is probably Cyndi's List, though RootsWeb and, from a US perspective, USGenWeb have been really helpful. I've gotten back to about 1800 for my maternal family, mostly from online sources. Since there's no one well known, and since records are very sketchy beyond then, I'd have to go to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and who knows where else, to get further. I'd love to do that, but circumstances make it impossible. On the other hand, I ran across a group of folks on RootsWeb who are even more control freak than I, and who decided to track everyone with my father's last name, whether they were in their particular lines or not. With a simple request, I got a report that takes my Dillinghams back to about 1600 in the US, with a really nice scandal or two. If I could, I travel to check out the research, but, hey, it works for the time being.