First, can I just say thanks to those of you that commented with similar stories/ experiences yesterday? THAT is why I love blogging - because it makes me feel normal. :) (I'm also secretly hoping Jeff had a second at work today to read some of those comments so that he knows I'm normal too.) Ya'll are the best.
Now, on to very important business...
My mom is really having a hard time "naming" herself in her new role as Grandma. It is a pretty important decision, really. I mean, Sam will set the precedence for all future grandchildren; and, this name will likely be around for the next... 30+ years. You heard about my dad's name here... But, my mom's having an even more difficult time. I'd always planned to call my mom "Girl Bear," but... Something about that sounded a little inappropriate for a boy... I've been calling her Granny, but that's really my Granny. Then, today, she offered the names "Ju Ju" - a bit politically incorrect, don't you think? - and "Juicy" - I don't think this one needs much explanation as to why it isn't going to work out. (Her name is Julie, by the way.).
Now, on to very important business...
My mom is really having a hard time "naming" herself in her new role as Grandma. It is a pretty important decision, really. I mean, Sam will set the precedence for all future grandchildren; and, this name will likely be around for the next... 30+ years. You heard about my dad's name here... But, my mom's having an even more difficult time. I'd always planned to call my mom "Girl Bear," but... Something about that sounded a little inappropriate for a boy... I've been calling her Granny, but that's really my Granny. Then, today, she offered the names "Ju Ju" - a bit politically incorrect, don't you think? - and "Juicy" - I don't think this one needs much explanation as to why it isn't going to work out. (Her name is Julie, by the way.).
Obviously, we need some help!
What do your kids call their grandparents? What's a good name for a hip Granny?!? All suggestions welcome.
I'm also linking up at Kelly's Korner today with this post from a while ago on "Marriage Advice." Check it out if you are tired of baby talk. :)
My mom, is a pretty young grandma. I turned 23 a month after my son was born (my hubs & I couldn't wait to have kids) and my mom was the same age when she had me. So a grandma at 46 is hard to find a name. That probably one reason y'all are having some difficulty. My mom goes by Nana and we love it. My son now refers to her as 'nan' at times & it is super sweet! Good luck! Can't wait to hear what you decide!
ReplyDeleteso this is not a helpful comment because we didn't follow through and i was the one who vetoed it anyways, but my mom really wanted to be called "ma" instead of grand"ma"
ReplyDeletethough i had no intention of letting my daughter call me ma i still didn't like it as a grandma name!
My mother in law goes by Mimi, my husbands grandma goes by Nina and my grandma was always Nunny. Good luck it is a big decision
ReplyDeleteMy Mom is Nanny. My in-laws are Grandma & Grandpa. My friends baby calls his gradma Mia, as in "Mama Mia". I think Grammy or Nana is cute too.
ReplyDeleteI dont have children yet, but my nephews and niece call my mom - AMA, my dad - PAPA, my s/mom - NANA, and my s/dad - PAPA B. I call my grandma, grams. I've seen gama and bammah as nicknames from others as well.
ReplyDeleteA woman my Mom works with goes by "Pumpkin" to her grandbabies, she wasnt' ready to be called Grandma yet so that is what they decided on. I's sort of a cute one I think!
ReplyDeleteMy mother had the full intention of being called Granny when my first nephew was born, however once he started talking he decided that she was a Mimi and that has stuck ever since. My dad goes by Choo Choo.
ReplyDeleteA friend from work has two girls who call their grandmas "Yaya" and "Gibi"...Yaya is my favorite! Congrats on Sam! He is absolutely adorable and I LOVE the pic of your mom and him! :)
ReplyDeleteI am new to your blog and absolutely love it. I came over from Kelly's Korner!
ReplyDeleteHere are a few names we use in my family for the grandmother...
Fancy (her name is Nancy so its Fancy Nancy)
Mimi
Mimzy
Nana
and of course grandma
Hope this helps!
Some of the "young" grandmothers at my church go by Honey, Mimi, and Gran. I've also heard of a Bunny. My own grandmothers are Granny and Grandma, and our family is boring--we tack on a "Big" Granny for great-grandmothers, or say Grandma [Last Name].
ReplyDeleteFor your mom's grandparent name, what about Jewel? My cousin's wife is Julie, and she's sometimes called Jewels (or Jules), so it would sort of originate from your mom's name (like JuJu or Juicy). And it would be a good name to reference the treasured role grandparents have in a grandchild's life.
Good luck to your mom on picking out her grandparent name! :)
I have a Grandma Joyce but we recently were nick-naming her "G.J." so since your mom is Grandma Julie she could go by GJ and spell it "Geejay" (not sure about that spelling) or just GJ...something like that. I think it's catchy and short for Sam's wonderful Grandma Julie!
ReplyDeleteI do not have any children but I have siblings that do and my mother is called Gaga or Grandma and actually she is called Mom by my two yr old nephew because he hears his mother call her that.
ReplyDeleteMy father is either Papa or Grandpa.
My mom is "Gammie" to her little ones. One of her close friends is called "Nee-na" by her grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteAfter commenting, I found this on one of my favorite baby naming sites... check it out :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.poshlittle.com/baby/entertainment/posh-grandma-name-generator.html
My mother-in-law is Oma (German for grandma) - is there a traditional grandma name in your cultural heritage. My mom's name is Judy and she was aunt juju to a lot of younger cousins growing up.
ReplyDeleteThe plus side of both Oma and Juju is they are very easy for little ones with develoing motor and speech skills to say!
My mom is going to be "Nana.' And my mother-in-law jokingly refers to herself as "Glama." (!) I would go with Nana. :)
ReplyDeleteI know a couple young grandmothers that go by "gigi" or "mimi". Both are cute but not as old sounding as grandmother or grandma. I am definitely calling dibs on a cute grandma name for my mom when I have a baby. My husband's parents can go with the traditional grandma and grandpa.
ReplyDeleteI recommend going with something easy to say. My 2 year old boy calls my mom nana and my grandmother mimi. We call my husband's mom "grandma" and he can't say that and it frustrates her. My mom wanted to go by "g-mom" but ultimately, your mom will end up being called whatever he comes up with! haha When my son is being very affectionate to my mother he calls her "nana mommy" SOOO sweet!
ReplyDeleteMy mom goes by "GiGi" and my dad goes by Poppa. We also had the whole what are we going to call grandma and finally went with GiGi. It's easy for my 9 month old and my mom thinks she has already said Gigi.
ReplyDeleteMy momma thought she was way to young to be granny or anything close to that (plus, we already had a granny). She decided she would be MeMe, because, as she says........"It's all about ME.ME."!!!! She is pretty hip and cute too so it fits her just right!!! Good luck!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love that I found out that little Sam was here when my sister came over for dinner and said, "have you been catching up on your blogs" and I said "ahhh did emyselfandI have her baby" and she said, "yes and your going to love the name!"!! We have a Sam too (my little Sammy C is 4!)..I'm also a teacher and also live in Roanoke!! :) My mom's name is Jo so our kids call her Gee-Jo (G-Jo) your mom could always be a Gee-Jewels! Inevitably you guys could decide on a name but when Sam starts talking whatever he comes up with just sticks! That's what so special about the first grandbaby! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteMy mother in law wants to be called Grandmommy and my mom wants to be called Nana. This baby is our first- due in about 5 weeks! He's the first grandchild on my husbands side and the fourth on my side (so my mom is already called Nana by my sister's kids).
ReplyDeleteOh My Goodness!!!! I love all these wonderful names!!! I think i may be leaning toward JuJu...don't know why, or Mia (love that, but it's my cat's name!! Jeff would never let Sam speak to me, and the poor child would be so confused!!!) hahaha... anyway, maybe JuJu, that is easy for little developing language learners! Thanks E for this blog, very helpful!!!
ReplyDeleteI love this! I always just called my grandparents Grandma and Grandpa. My husband however (who has a LOT of grandparents from divorces and re-marries) has a Gma, a Jma (could work for your mom? his grandmother's name is June), a Mema, a MiMi, and a Nana.
ReplyDeleteGood luck deciding!
My mom wanted to be "Grandma" but my son (the only grandchild at the time) could only say
ReplyDelete"Ahyah". That transitioned to Yaya which Mom loves!
My suggestion is to let Sam lead the way. Call your mom "Grandma" or "Jewel" (I love this) or whatever. But let him come up with his own name for her. It will mean much more to her that he picked her name!!
Both my parents and my husbands parents had names for themselves when my oldest was young, and he re-named every one of them once he was able to talk! My Mom is "Mema", my Dad is "Bepa", Hubby's Mom is "Mimi" and Hubby's Dad is "Grampy"
ReplyDeleteha i like Juicy :) Can I call her that now?
ReplyDeletemy mom will be going by "Mia" as in Momma Mia. She always calls her mom by that, so she wants to go by the shortened version. I love it!
ReplyDeleteWe called my grandmother Gommy (get it? Mommy with a "g")...I always loved this name :)
ReplyDeleteMy family was always pretty boring...Grandma, Grandpa, Granddaddy, Mamaw etc. But my husband's family has some great alternatives. Because his family has Polish heritage, they used Babchi (or Babka, when the kids couldn't say Babchi) for the grandmother, and dza-dza (pronounced "jah-jah") for the grandfather. They also use Gramps and Grani for the other set of grandparents, and Grani is known as Gigi ("G.G" for great-grandmother) to the next generation of kids.
ReplyDeleteMy kids call my mother in law Grammy and my mom Grandma. Funny story about Ju Ju! When my youngest was smaller she would always call juice ju juice. No idea why! It really led to some embarrassing moments out of the house but I hope we were the only ones to notice! BTW..Sam is a cutie!!
ReplyDeleteI'm 38 and a grandma, my grandbaby calls me Grimmy
ReplyDeleteGia or Lola
ReplyDeleteMy mother was called Nana and our son said " she'll always be Nana. " My first name is Donna, so we went with Dondi.
ReplyDeleteI'm also Julie and thinking about what my grandma name will be in advance. I thought of juju, jewel, Jules or julsey. I'm leaning toward Julsie just not sure on the spelling. Buy I also like Lola and coco. I've been thinking about this for a few years now and I don't even have grandchildren and pretty sure none in the near future, lol! At least I will be prepared when the time comes!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter named me Juju and baby here in June!!! I am torn. I love it, everyone thinks matches me, but keep hearing incorrectly correct? Should that bug me? Help!!
ReplyDelete