Grandparents get in on the name game
I had no idea, until I started reading up on such things, that
there was an untold crisis in this country.
Namely, that of naming grandparents.
Grandparents get in on the name game
I had no idea, until I started reading up on such things, that there was an untold crisis in this country.
Namely, that of naming grandparents.
This is quite a hot topic in grandparents’ circles these days. Just in the last few weeks, I’ve seen several articles on the topic.
There are also a variety of grandparents’ Web sites where nicknames are collected, discussed and debated. Just for starters, check out www.grandboomer.com, www.namenerds.com and grandparentstoday.com.
For some reason, “Grandma” and “Grandpa” just don’t fill the bill anymore.
Grand Magazine, which has a motto of “Celebrating Today’s Grandparents,” carries an extensive list of grandparents’ nicknames on its Web site (www.grandmagazineonline.com).
There are some that you might expect, like Nana and Papa. There are some from various ethnic backgrounds (abuela and abuelo, for instance, or grandmere and grandpere).
But then there are some that are really way out there.
How about Boompa or Boppy? Crampy or Crapa? Gi-Gi or Gunkle?
And I’m only up to the G’s here.
Then there’s Moo-Moo, Nagga, Oma, Pipa, Poopie, Ya-Ya and Zayda.
According to the magazine, some people don’t like being called grandma or grandpa. Still others have family traditions that figure into the nickname.
And, the magazine notes, “Grandparents are sometimes given the darndest names by their grandchildren for reasons that can be quite mysterious and inexplicable for those over 2 years old.”
I guess my family is less interesting than most, because we always just called them “Grandma” and “Grandpa.”
Even my own children never got into it, really. They could always say “Grandma” without any trouble, especially if she was holding out a toy at the time.
For some reason, though, they had more trouble saying “Grandpa.” So both grandpas became “Papa.” They still occasionally are called “Papa” even now.
But we never got into the Oompas, La-Las and whatever else.
Apparently there are a few reasons for all this. One is that because of divorces and remarriages, there are many step-grandparents in the world. Some of them want a nickname that is unique but that differs from what the biological grandparents are called.
Children these days also tend to have great-grandparents in addition to grandparents, and so nicknames are necessary for all the additional grands.
But perhaps most pervasive is the current wave of baby boomer grandparents seeking out special names because they don’t want to be called “Granny.”
Gayle White, writing for Cox News Service, points out that the grandparent name game is as old as time, but baby boomer grandparents are giving it an additional push these days.
She notes that Alan and Kathryn Zullo of Asheville, N.C., authors of “A Boomer’s Guide to Grandparenting,” say that today’s grandparents want younger-sounding, informal titles.
Thus the boom amongst the boomers of such things.
One woman, who plans to be called “Oma” by her grandchildren, put it this way: “It’s like vanity license plates. We’ve got vanity nomenclature.”
Of course, even if grandparents pick out names for themselves, they should be aware that their grandchildren may have other plans.
My mother-in-law wanted to be called “Nana.” Somehow, she became “Grandma” anyway.
In the Cox News story, one woman who wanted to be called “Grandmama” was instead christened “Beebop” by her grandson. Now the whole family calls her that.
Most grandparents don’t seem to mind, though.
One woman who wrote to www.cyberparent.com on the subject said her first grandchild called her “Gaga” and it stuck.
“Now they are 9 and 6…The children have suggested changing it, but we can’t for the life of us come up with anything that sounds as comfortable.”
