Yankee T asked me in a comment if I was going to change my name to "Rev. Dr. Grandma." I don't know if she was serious or not, but no matter: The short answer to that question is no. The long answer is something I've been thinking about--actually I thought about it before I found out that I'm going to become a grandmother. And that is this: I don't want to be called "Grandma" or "Granny" or "Nana" or any of the usual grandmotherly names, for lots of reasons, but mainly because they don't feel like they fit.
"Grandma" in my mind is my mother. We've never actually had a "Granny" in our family, but what I called my grandmother ("Ninnie") was a corruption of Granny; my older sister said "Ninnie" and it stuck. My other grandmother, who died when I was in kindergarten, was called Mama (a as in acid, not Mama with an ah sound, if that makes in sense.) But my kids, including NSLS, called their paternal grandmother by her first name, Iris, because she didn't want to be called by any grandmotherly name either. And that seemed to work just fine.
So I don't know what I do want to be called--not necessarily by my first name, especially since the Kid and I have first names that sound just alike (even though we spell them differently). I guess I have plenty of time to come up with something appropriate. Any suggestions?
13 comments:
The child will name you...they usually do. And I'm betting that, whatever the name is, when you hear it spoken in love it'll be the most appropriate thing you'd ever want to be called.
I agree with Aaron. My son decided that my father was "Bumpa" (not Grandpa). So you will learn when the time comes what sort of "Grandma" you will be... :)
Yes, the child will name you, but you do have some influence. My nephew called my dad "Poppo" briefly, but switched to "Grandpa" when he didn't get reinforcement.
My husband called his paternal grandmother "Mamas" - short for "Mama's Mama". His paternal grandmother was "Oma." Is there another (appropriate) language from which you could borrow am endearment?
I think Mr. LS's mom is going with Nonna. You could be Ninnie. Or whatever you want to be. :)
Hermione?
Not Ninnie. There was only one Ninnie.
"Amma" is Icelandic for grandmother--I kind of like that.
How about Reverend Grandmother? You know, something easy to say and not too formal, heh heh.
Actually, we called my maternal grandmother by her name, and my paternal grandmother by a nickname that had nothing to do with her name or her grandmotherly position.
My best friend's kid called her grandmother "Grammy" and I liked it.
I think Amma sounds great. And it's easy to learn.
I like Amma!
My mom got named by C, and then again by my sister's daughter. She was not at all pleased that C called her Nana at first (her name is ann and he couldn't pronounce it) but it grew on her. My sister's daughter calls her Ninnie, and now A calls her Nanny...
But I like Amma too!
The baby will probably pick your name. My parents started as Grandmommy and Grandpoppy but Kid L changed his name to Ducky. So now all the kids call him that and half the time we do too.
I'm fond of "Granny" because it runs up the maternal line for a couple of generations, and my mother inherited the term with pride and affection. My dad did not want to be "Grandpa" because of his dissatisfaction with the grandparental behaviour of his own father, and was going to go with "Granda" - what we called my maternal grandfather - when my husband came up with "Papa Lou". It's perfect for him, and we all love it.
I'm so happy for the whole family, by the way!!! Been meaning to come on over and say that for a while now!
Oh, and I think "Amma" is pretty cool, too!
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