A Grandmother By Any Name is Sweet

 Grandmothers are special, no matter what name their grandchildren call them. Over the years, I've heard many names used by kids to identify their grandmother. Some are commonly used, like Grandma, Gramma, Grammie, Grandmama and Nana. Some are pet names or unusual names passed down through generations, like Mimi and MeeMaw.

My Grandmother

My Grandmother, Anne

My grandmother was barely into her 40s when I was born and for some reason – perhaps she thought she was too young to be a grandmother – she taught us first-born grandchildren to call her & my grandfather by their first names ~ Anne & Ernie.

So my darling grandmother, the sweetest woman in the whole world, was always 'Anne' to me and my siblings.  She became simply 'Grandma' to my younger cousins several years later. 

By the time I became a mother, her 'grandma' name got changed again by my baby son. Anne had come to visit when Chris was a tiny toddler and as she came in the door she said “Where's my little GG” (meaning her great-grandson). My son thought that was her name and from that moment on the entire family began to call her 'GG'. :) My sister was the only exception. She decided to call Anne 'Best G' for 'Best Grandmother', except Anne used to laugh and say “but I'm your ONLY grandmother”. Didn't matter – she was the BEST. :)

My mom and hubby's mom were both just 'gramma', or grandma used with the last name when identity was needed.

Different Grandma Names in a Family

Great Grandparents

Separating one grandmother or great-grandmother from another when there are still several on each side of the family gets to be confusing to kids and different names are needed to distinguish them. Since my grandmother was GG, my husband's grandmother became “Grammy-Great”. I called MY great-grandmother “Banny”, a name that has always been special to me and I have no idea where it came from. I've never heard it anywhere else, so perhaps it was a pet family name.

When my first-born grandson was born, my daughter-in-law asked me what I wanted him to call me and I considered 'Banny', and wish now I'd used it, but it was MY Banny's name, so couldn't bear to part with my memories of her. So, I became just plain 'Grandma' to my 5 grandsons, with exceptions (see below). 

My teenage grandson recently decided that 'grandma' is too long, especially for text messages, so he shortened it to G-Ma! 

In different countries, the word 'grandmother' takes different forms depending on what the word means in other languages.  My son's wife is from South Korea, so when the 2 youngest grandsons in that family came along, she taught them to call me Halmeoni, the Korean word for 'grandma'.

Grandparents Day

National Grandparents Day is a holiday celebrated in various countries to show the bond between grandparents and grandchildren. It is always celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. I had a very special bond with my grandmother, Anne.

Happy grandparents day classic round sticker
by KeyholeDesign

Related Grandmother Posts:

• My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - a Book Review
• New Grandmother Gifts

Grandmother Article Written by Wednesday Elf (9/13/2020)

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