Alternative names for "grandfather"

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Hoosier_Daddy said:
Don’t we want better for our children than to fall into some southern stereotype…😉

I just don’t understand this fascination with grandparents demanding titles or pet names. If it happens it happens, but it does not change biology or age. They are not your children they are your children’s children. If you children wish to tell their children what to call you that is their prerogative,

My mom tried the “what will they call me” routine with my first. :rolleyes: I make sure they call her grandma. She is vain…😃

When someone southern or anyone says Paw Paw, I automatically use simpler words around them so as not to confuse…
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Duuuuuuude… c’mon! Don’t be a meanie! Do your children have to call you “father”, or is it ok for them to call you daddy out of endearment? I really don’t thinks Pawpaw down south is out of vanity or trying to seem younger. I was surprised and slightly confused the first time I heard Pawpaw, but I think it is very sweet for families to have their own traditions of how they will call their grandparents. And who’s to say that Pawpaw didn’t come from a little one trying to say Grandpa → Grandpaw → Pawpaw, and families just kept using it!
 
Papa, but pronounced as the Ladies Mary and Edith in Downton Abbey say it: pə-PAH.
 
lifeisbeautiful said:
Duuuuuuude… c’mon! Don’t be a meanie! Do your children have to call you “father”, or is it ok for them to call you daddy out of endearment? I really don’t thinks Pawpaw down south is out of vanity or trying to seem younger. I was surprised and slightly confused the first time I heard Pawpaw, but I think it is very sweet for families to have their own traditions of how they will call their grandparents. And who’s to say that Pawpaw didn’t come from a little one trying to say Grandpa → Grandpaw → Pawpaw, and families just kept using it!
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Sounds like it is a hot button issue for you!

LOL. My kids call me da da. Probably akin to “abba”

But you should go back and read what I wrote earlier. Whatever a kid comes up with on their own I am fine with. Gam gam, grumpa, ga, or “grandfather” I just dont really care. Nor would I ever dictate what my grandchildren will call me. You got that backwards. What I think is odd is the idea that grandparents dictate these nicknames either out of vanity or plain old silliness.
Nor am I a fan of using southern stereotypes to facilitate a child calling someone something they are not. I sure think teachers should be paid more if down south they have to deal with little johnny talking about his paw and it really is his grandpa…

I say, if the nicknames happen they happen. My only problem is the whole idea of grandparents “deciding” what they will be called. I have this opinion because of a bias. My mother insisted that she not be called a grandma. Yeah, that doesnt fly well with me. My favorite thing to do is talk to her on the phone and then yell down the hall “Hey kids! Grandma is on the phone! Do you want to talk to Grandma?”😃

But then again, I’m a stinker for that stuff.
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
Sounds like it is a hot button issue for you!

LOL. My kids call me da da. Probably akin to “abba”

But you should go back and read what I wrote earlier. Whatever a kid comes up with on their own I am fine with. Gam gam, grumpa, ga, or “grandfather” I just dont really care. Nor would I ever dictate what my grandchildren will call me. You got that backwards. What I think is odd is the idea that grandparents dictate these nicknames either out of vanity or plain old silliness.
Nor am I a fan of using southern stereotypes to facilitate a child calling someone something they are not. I sure think teachers should be paid more if down south they have to deal with little johnny talking about his paw and it really is his grandpa…

I say, if the nicknames happen they happen. My only problem is the whole idea of grandparents “deciding” what they will be called. I have this opinion because of a bias. My mother insisted that she not be called a grandma. Yeah, that doesnt fly well with me. My favorite thing to do is talk to her on the phone and then yell down the hall “Hey kids! Grandma is on the phone! Do you want to talk to Grandma?”😃

But then again, I’m a stinker for that stuff.
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Lol, it’s not that (my kids call their grandpa that is alive grandpa… and the other grandpa is grandpa name). It’s just that I have met several Pawpaws that are sweet as can be and I think the term is just tradition.

I don’t think people use the term Pawpaw to fit stereotypes or to try to pretend they are younger. I don’t know who decides that lots of southern grandpas end up being called Pawpaw… the parents? the grandpas? the kids? It doesn’t matter to me… I asked a southener just in case I was off here 🙂 and they said they would assume Pawpaw was a grandpa if they heard someone talking about Pawpaw… so in reality it seems like if you call yourself Pawpaw its because you are wanting to be acknowledged as a grandpa. I think it is mean to assume someone is simple-minded because they are using a term like that :D.
 
Here in Labrador when someone says “My Pop” they are not referring to their father, they are talking about their grandfather. “Pop” and “Nan” are the two most commonly used names for grandparents around here.
 
I came from a …conservative family. All of my sisters, my brothers and I always called them grandmother and grandfather. Due to our parents we also thought it was terriblly rude and disrespectful that our cousin called them mawmaw and pawpaw. I laugh now when I learned that this is the norm and we were odd balls. Also since I saw a comment around these lines , Yes my siblings and I all call our Mother, Mother or Mrs lastname. This may be because we are the grandchildren of immigrants and we still are imbued with the concept of class or rank in society.
 
Phemie said:
Here in Labrador when someone says “My Pop” they are not referring to their father, they are talking about their grandfather. “Pop” and “Nan” are the two most commonly used names for grandparents around here.
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Interesting!
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
Nor am I a fan of using southern stereotypes to facilitate a child calling someone something they are not. I sure think teachers should be paid more if down south they have to deal with little johnny talking about his paw and it really is his grandpa…
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Ha Ha, sorry you don’t approve of the dialect of our section of the country! Teachers down south understand our dialect, and realize that Paw IS his grandfather, not some new fangled silliness confabulated to confuse.

Hey all you who refer to carbonated beverages as “pop”…better watch out lest someone think you are referring to your father or grandfather, oh the humanity…

😉
 
schaeffer said:
Ha Ha, sorry you don’t approve of the dialect of our section of the country! Teachers down south understand our dialect, and realize that Paw IS his grandfather, not some new fangled silliness confabulated to confuse.

Hey all you who refer to carbonated beverages as “pop”…better watch out lest someone think you are referring to your father or grandfather, oh the humanity…

😉
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I still get a kick out of it when we go South and a server will ask us, “What kind of Coke do you want?” and I can say, “Pepsi!” And nobody blinks an eye! (Of course, this only occurs in those poor chain establishments that do not recognize the supreme reign of Coke products in the South.)

(And of course, where we live, we also get a kick out of telling non-natives about “coke works” and “coke trains.”)

Language is fun. 😃
 
I don’t know if I’ve seen this on the thread yet, but my children call my parents “nana” and “bumpa”.

And when we used to live in Minnesota, carbonated beverages were always called pop. I’m forcing myself to call it soda now, lol.
 
Language is fun (Bumpa! I love it!) I’ve been blessed to have lived all over the United States and one of the fun things has been learning (and picking up) wonderful language, food, culture and quirks from the different places I’ve lived in.

Lately my grandson has been trying to understand the meaning of “teen ager”. I’ve explained it refers to people who are between 13 and 20 years of age. That if the number ended in “teen” it made you a teenager. He’s having a hard time with it, so he keeps asking if so and so is a teen ager…is his dad a teenager etc.

Then he asked me if I am a teenager! Lol…no I’m on the other end of the spectrum. I guess that would have been a good opportunity to play the “I’m a grandmother but not old enough to be one.” game…but I fessed up…50 doesn’t qualify. I’m at that awkward age, no longer a teenager but not eligible for senior discounts.
 
schaeffer said:
Language is fun (Bumpa! I love it!) I’ve been blessed to have lived all over the United States and one of the fun things has been learning (and picking up) wonderful language, food, culture and quirks from the different places I’ve lived in.

Lately my grandson has been trying to understand the meaning of “teen ager”. I’ve explained it refers to people who are between 13 and 20 years of age. That if the number ended in “teen” it made you a teenager. He’s having a hard time with it, so he keeps asking if so and so is a teen ager…is his dad a teenager etc.

Then he asked me if I am a teenager! Lol…no I’m on the other end of the spectrum. I guess that would have been a good opportunity to play the “I’m a grandmother but not old enough to be one.” game…but I fessed up…50 doesn’t qualify.** I’m at that awkward age, no longer a teenager but not eligible for senior discounts.**
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:rotfl:

My mother is 50. She says most of the time she feels about 25, but sometimes she thinks she sees her mother in the mirror and then realizes with a shock that it’s her instead. 😉 She will have four grandchildren by the end of summer. She’s very happy to be called “Grandma,” but it still doesn’t seem quite real to her that she “is a grandmother.”

(I’ll say sometimes that mirror thing happens to me too - but it’ll look like a photo of my mom from when we were kids. It’s unsettling! She seemed so grown up and mature at the time and I…don’t. At all! I told her this once and she said not to worry because she was just “winging it” too. :p)
 
Phemie said:
Here in Labrador when someone says “My Pop” they are not referring to their father, they are talking about their grandfather. “Pop” and “Nan” are the two most commonly used names for grandparents around here.
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Same (almost) in Newfoundland. I’m married to a Newfoundlander (we live in the US now), and her parents are “Nanny” and “Poppy” to their grandchildren, including our daughter.

My American father is “Papi” to his grandchildren. “Papi” is the Spanish-language version of the same nickname.
 
Alternative names for “grandfather”
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Sir
Honourable Patriarch
Exalted Elder
Esteemed Ancestor

… could come up with a couple more if you want me to!
 
chevalier said:
Sir
Honourable Patriarch
Exalted Elder
Esteemed Ancestor

… could come up with a couple more if you want me to!
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These are great!

and here I was going to go with old fashioned things like “Grand Poobah” and “Big Chief Mucky Muck”

I am going to tell my grandson tomorrow that from now on I am Exalted Elder!
 
Inisfallen said:
Same (almost) in Newfoundland. I’m married to a Newfoundlander (we live in the US now), and her parents are “Nanny” and “Poppy” to their grandchildren, including our daughter.

My American father is “Papi” to his grandchildren. “Papi” is the Spanish-language version of the same nickname.
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My wife calls me Papi sometimes. I hope she does not mean grandpa. That would kill the mood.😃
 
Phemie said:
Other than “Sir” those are quite a mouthful for a 1 year old.
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But they don’t stay 1 forever. I think I’d like being called “Esteemed Ancestor”. But I do prefer Grandma. God Bless, Memaw, (That’s what my youngest grandaughter called me for several years).
 
Memaw said:
But they don’t stay 1 forever. I think I’d like being called “Esteemed Ancestor”. But I do prefer Grandma. God Bless, Memaw, (That’s what my youngest grandaughter called me for several years).
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That’s what Sheldon still calls his grandmother. 😃
 
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