What do (or did) you call your grandmother?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Math Is Hard
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

This thread explores the various names and terms participants use or used to refer to their grandmothers, reflecting personal experiences and cultural influences. The discussion includes a range of affectionate nicknames, formal titles, and cultural variations, touching on both individual anecdotes and broader familial traditions.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants refer to their grandmothers with affectionate nicknames like "MooMoo" and "tea tea," which have personal stories behind them.
  • Others mention more traditional names such as "Grandma," "Nana," and "Granny," often accompanied by descriptions of their grandmothers' personalities and relationships.
  • A participant shares that in India, specific terms exist for different relatives, including "Daadi" for paternal grandmother and "Naani" for maternal grandmother, highlighting cultural naming conventions.
  • Some participants from Norwegian backgrounds use "mormor" and "farmor," which translate to "mother-mother" and "father-mother," respectively, reflecting linguistic traditions.
  • There are humorous exchanges about the complexity of naming conventions in different cultures, with some participants joking about the potential for increasingly complicated names in future generations.
  • A few participants express that they simply call their grandmothers by their first names or use more generic terms like "grandma" without any nicknames.
  • One participant notes that their maternal grandmother was referred to as "grammy," while they never knew their maternal grandmother, who passed away before they were born.
  • Another participant humorously mentions calling their grandmother "sweety," prompting a discussion about the appropriateness of such affectionate terms.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants share a variety of names and terms for their grandmothers, with no consensus on a single naming convention. The discussion reflects a rich diversity of personal and cultural experiences, indicating multiple competing views on how grandmothers are referred to.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention cultural differences in naming conventions, and there are references to personal anecdotes that may not apply universally. The discussion also highlights the emotional connections tied to these names, which can vary widely among families.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to those exploring familial relationships, cultural naming practices, or personal anecdotes related to grandparental figures.

Math Is Hard
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
Messages
4,663
Reaction score
36
Mine is MooMoo. My sister was about two when she named her that. It just stuck. MooMoo wasn't thrilled about it at first, but now, years later, she is fine with it. :smile:
 
Physics news on Phys.org
tea tea! :biggrin:

Not all the time though, but she's fine with it...Too! :biggrin:
 
drizzle said:
tea tea! :biggrin:

Not all the time though, but she's fine with it.

As in "bring me tea, Grandmother!" ?
 
Math Is Hard said:
As in "bring me tea, Grandmother!" ?

Hahaaa! No, but I think it's common for people from... Turkey I think to call their Grany with that short phrase, and I liked the sound of it. :smile:
 
If I had ever called my materual grandma anything like moomoo, I wouldn't be alive to post this. Right up to the end (aged just short of 100) she had flaming red hair, and a flaming temper to go with it!

My paternal grandma died before I was born, and my paternal step-grandma was written out of the family history after making off with all the money from that side of the family (legally, if not honestly, so there wasn't anything to be done about it).

I guess 0 out of 3 counts as a fail in "grandmother studies".
 
Grandma, when I was growing up a moo-moo was a cow!
 
I called (and still call her) baba
 
Grandmom.
 
Both grandmas I called grandma.

One was very old by the time I came along, could barely see or hear. But she had such a sweet disposition and seemed to enjoy having lots of kids sitting on her kitchen floor as she sat peeling potatoes (my only memory of her :smile:).

The other grandma...whew, she was a piece of work. She really didn't like kids at all. She didn't bother calling her grandkids by name (did she even know our names, I wonder?) and instead called us all "George", even the girls. She was mean and had a temper. When she got mad, she would chase us around with a nasty fly swatter :eek:.
 
  • #10
Both Grandma's were Grandma unless they were together, then we had to add the last names.
On my mothers side both my mom and aunt called Grandma and Grandpa Mommy and Daddy till they passed away. I call my mom that and my daughter calls me all the time... and it's "Hey! waz up? So...blah, blah,blah." So what if I had a toe into the shower or the building was on fire. :smile:
 
  • #11
lisab said:
When she got mad, she would chase us around with a nasty fly swatter :eek:.

:smile:


My maternal grandmom was nice but I never lived with my dad's mom because my parents jobs were near my mom parent's hometown.

Nonetheless, there was a bit of friction between my mom and my dad's mom
 
  • #12
My maternal granmother was Nana (which went with Pa), and my paternal grandmother was Grandma (which went with Grandpa).
 
  • #13
My maternal grandmother was Granny, while the paternal grandmother was, Farmor-mamma.
 
  • #14
by her first name
 
  • #15
Both Grandma. My parents were both born in the US. My mother's parents were born in Europe and had European ways about them. They were very plain in all things. My father's parents were born in the US and had American ways about them. They were very elegant in all things. As a small child I couldn't understand the reason why they were so different from each other.
 
  • #16
I was raised by my maternal grandparents, yet I still don't call them nicknames--just "grandpa" and "grandma". Unfortunately, in China it's almost unheard of to call older relatives by their nicknames.
 
  • #17
We had Granny and Grandma. Grandma died when I was pretty young, but Granny [mom's mom] lived long enough to see Tsu and I get married... by about three days. She died while we were on our honeymoon.

Granny was a very funny lady. She had a great sense of humor and loved teasing us kids. Whenever we went over for dinner, she always announced that we would be eating brains and eggplant, which I think she actually liked, though I never saw her eat it.
 
  • #18
I call them oma and opa...
 
  • #19
Maternal was Grandmother and paternal is Nana.
 
  • #20
Me an Indian.In India there are specific names for each kind of relative.

Father - Pitaji/Baba/Papa/Daddy.
Mother - Maa/aai / Ammi / Mom / Mommy/ Mummy.
Paternal Grandmother - Daadi
Paternal Grandfather - Daadaa.
Maternal Grandmother - Naani
Maternal Grandfather - Naana.
Uncle who is father's brother - Chaacha
Aunt who is father's brother's wife - Chaachi
Uncle who is mother's brother - Maama.
Aunt who is mother's brother's wife - Maami.

Aunt who is father's sister - Bua.
Uncle who is father's sister's husband - Foofa.

Aunt who is mom's sister - Mausi.
Uncle who is mom's sister's husband - Mausa (not sure if this one is right terminology).

Brother - Bhaiyya
His wife - Bhaabhi

Sister - Didi
Her husband - Jeeja.Funnily , we call any of our dad's friends as uncle.

I have restricted here to mostly Hindi terminology. There are 17 other languages which I believe have their own terminology.
 
Last edited:
  • #21
micromass said:
I call them oma and opa...
Si élégant.. Oma.. Opa, nice :)
 
  • #22
drizzle said:
Si élégant.. Oma.. Opa, nice :)

It's not french :biggrin: French would be grand-mère or mamie...
 
  • #23
Hahaa, I know but I feel French language express' anything elegant best and better than any other language ;)
 
  • #24
Aha, je comprend ça completement :cool:
 
  • #25
I called my paternal grandmother grammy. I never knew my maternal grandmother, who died when my mother was a kid. I'm sure that I would have called her meme, though since my mother's family is French-Canadian.
 
  • #26
philipsteele said:
i just call sweeety...

That's what you call your grandmother?

Surely that's more of an affectionate thing for your SO?
 
  • #27
gramm
 
  • #28
I called my maternal grandmother "mormor" (translation: mother-mother); I called my paternal grandmother "farmor" (translation: father-mother).

Not very creative, but in line with Norwegian traditions.
(Another very common designation for either of them is "Bestemor" ("best mother"))

Quiz:

What do you think Norwegians call their paternal&maternal grandfathers? :smile:
 
Last edited:
  • #29
arildno said:
I called my maternal grandmother "mormor" (translation: mother-mother); I called my paternal grandmother "farmor" (translation: father-mother).

Not very creative, but in line with Norwegian traditions.

Quiz:

What do you think Norwegians call their paternal&maternal grandfathers? :smile:

Wow, that sounds complicated if you do the same thing for the next generations? You'll have a morfarmor, farmormor, mormorfar,...
I do like it...
 
  • #30
micromass said:
Wow, that sounds complicated if you do the same thing for the next generations? You'll have a morfarmor, farmormor, mormorfar,...
I do like it...
No, we stop there.

Great-grandmother is "oldemor", whereas
Great-great-grandmother is "tipp-oldemor".
And then we go:
Tipptipp-oldemor
Tipptipptipp-oldemor, and so on..
 

Similar threads

Undergrad Why does my ceiling glow in the dark?
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
5K
DNA-maternity test - could you see other relationship than mother?
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
3K
RIP Lucile Randon, world's oldest person, has died at age 118 years
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Other How Can Parents and Teachers Identify a Student's Potential for a Maths Degree?
  • · Replies 22 ·
Replies
22
Views
3K
What is the best way to learn logic of computer language?
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
4K
Death in Elderly: The Chainlike Phenomenon?
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
3K
Kitten raising advice
  • · Replies 82 ·
3
Replies
82
Views
6K
Wood/Glass/Metal Doggie- lovers: what do dogs like? Ramp or step?
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
2K
Weight training for older people
  • · Replies 26 ·
Replies
26
Views
2K
Mentalist: How did Red John know the Jane's list?
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
5K