Grandparents Names For Modern Day Grandparents

Recently I was asked to be interviewed on ABC Radio in regards to current trends in grandparents names. It wasn’t something I had thought about in great detail before, as both sides in my family already knew what they wanted to be called as soon as they found out I was pregnant with my firstborn. But I hadn’t realised how much diversity and dilemma actually existed surrounding the naming of grandparents in today’s society.

While looking through the BellyBelly website statistics one day, I came across some search terms (the words people have used to find BellyBelly through search engines) which included such keywords as ‘grandparents names’ or ‘names for grandparents’. So I realised there were more than a few people out there looking for ideas for grandparents names. I searched through the BellyBelly Forums on the same topic and found several long discussions. So it seems to be a very popular, yet complex issue! Just when you thought choosing a name for baby was hard enough, it seems grandparents names are on the cards too.

Why are grandparents names so diverse?

I came up with five main reasons for grandparents names experiencing such diversity:

Re-marriage

Where the grandparents may not necessarily be blood relatives, therefore traditional names may not be appropriate

Culture / heritage

Even if some families are not highly cultural or religious, they may choosing names which honour their culture or heritage – or they choose them just to be different to the more common names outside their heritage. Some cultures see their specific names for grandparents as a mark of respect and to call them anything else is disrespect.

Muddled baby words

Some grandparents decide on names which were words spoken by a baby, which were an attempt to say something else they had chosen. The word may come out different from what they hoped for, but because the muddled word sounded cute, they kept it anyway.

Some mothers also commented that they felt the first born children in families got to choose or direct the names of the grandparents for everyone else in the family in some cases.

Grandparent’s background or personality

Personality also seems a popular choice for grandparents. Many told me of grandfathers being called ‘Grumpy,’ which was based on personality. There was even ‘White Nanna’ who had white hair and ‘Truckie Pa’ who drove a truck for a living.

And the main reason was…

To be trendy and / or unique!

I have come to the conclusion that the main reason we have such diversity in grandparents names is because grandparents just want to be unique or trendy!

Apart from those having set names for cultural reasons, most other families seem to be ditching traditional grandparents names in order to find something unique and trendy to identify the special grandparent that they are.

A pre-dominant comment from grandparents was that they felt traditional names sounded ‘too old’ and they didn’t want to sound like a stereo-typical grandparent who led a quiet life. They still wanted to sound young, active and fun. There are still many who embrace the traditional ‘nanna’ and grandpa’ but it seems these days, nanna and grandpa are making a stand and deciding on their own names, with a creative edge.

Why are grandparents names changing?

Maybe the change in grandparents names is a result of change in society. Our lifestyle has become faster and busier than ever before, so perhaps this has made slow sound ‘untrendy?’ Or perhaps slow is just not as realistic as it used to be?

Blended families have also prompted thought and change as to how we name special people in our life, who have a place in our heart but are not related by blood. Maybe this is a change in trend – just like names go in and out of fashion, maybe grandparents names will too?

No matter what the reason is behind it, grandparents seem to enjoy being able to choose their own names. And why not – it’s a fantastic way to honour those who brought us into the world, enabling us to bring our own beautiful children into the world too.

So what do we call the grandparents?

Here are some common examples of what grandparents are called based on discussion with BellyBelly viewers:

• Where the grandparent is not a blood relative, many grandparents are choosing to include the name of the grandparent, for example, ‘Grandpa Mark’ or ‘Grandma Sarah’.

• Where culture was the deciding factor, names like Oma and Opa for German or Dutch backgrounds, Nonna and Nonno for Italian backgrounds, YiaYia and Papu for Greek etc. I noticed a strong response in the use of Oma and Opa for this category.

• Where personality or background of the grandparent was a factor – the job of that grandparent may have been a deciding factor. For example, ‘Truckie Pa’ where the grandfather drove trucks and in even a few examples, grandfathers who worked in the army were called, ‘Grandpa Sir’ or similar, in humour. There was a big response with ‘Grumpy’ or ‘Grumps’ for grandfathers, where I was told they were exactly that!

• Where babies determined the name by not being able to say the chosen name correctly include ‘Grandbob’ as he couldn’t say Grandpa Bob, ‘Mampsie’ instead of Gramps, ‘Graddy’ instead of grandad or ‘bookdaddy’ where the child came up with the name in a moment of creativity!

Some other examples are where names may have been taken by other grandparents so a new name had to be chosen or where some grandparents actually asked to be called by their actual name. In some cases a child had heard the grandparent be called by their own name and the child continued to call them by name.

Below is a list of names which I came across which may help you in your search for a grandparent name if you are looking for one. If you have any suggestions to add, please email us.

Grandparents Names

Oma – German / Dutch, Feminine Opa – German / Dutch, Masculine Nonna – Italian Nonno – Italian YiaYia – Greek, Feminine Papu – Greek, Masculine Sassim – Papua New Guinea, Feminine Mamoo – Papua New Guinea, Masculine Avo – Portugese Ava – Portugese Bunica – Romanian, Feminine Bunicu – Romanian, Masculine Mummu – Finnish, Feminine Bepe (pronounced be-PA) – Fresian, Feminine Nani (pronounced Nar-ni) – Hindi, Feminine Gran Granny Grandpa Grandpa Pop Grandma Grandmummy Nanna Nana Nanma Nona Pa Pappy Poppa Grumps Gramps Grampy Grumpy Grandad Papa Poppy Pops Pop Nonie Nanny

Kelly Winder is a birth attendant (aka doula), the creator of BellyBelly and mum to two beautiful children. Become a fan of BellyBelly on Facebook here or add Kelly as a friend (frequently adding articles and stories) here.