Please Send An Endearing Term for Grandma and Grandpa in Your Language
Kathy wrote me…
Dear Mamalisa,
I was delighted to find your website and will be using it in the future. I am researching translations for the word “grandma” in various languages. I am most interested in the familiar, sweet terms children might call this individual. I am aware that in some cultures this would be a different word for the mother or the father’s side of the family. I have spent hours on Internet, through many websites as well as your website and links. I have thus found: Cajun, Hawaiian, Ukrainian, Italian, Scottish, Irish, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Farsi. I am not clear about Russian or Greek since I am not completely sure of their letters. Now I am certainly not expecting you to do hours of research for my project. But I thought you might be familiar with an easier way for me to accomplish my task.
For example, I happened on a page called “I Love You” in Various Languages and found 18 pages for “I love you”. Wow! Anyway, whatever help you can give me would be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Kathy
If anyone knows any endearing terms for “grandma” and “grandpa”, including any in those languages listed, please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
February 16th, 2006 at 6:38 am
In Japanese, grandmother is “o-baa-san”.
Children usually say “o-baa-chan”, “baa-chan”, or “baa-baa”.
February 17th, 2006 at 8:33 am
In French, grandmothers can be called: Mamie, Mémée, Mémère, but also Mamée, Manou or Mamou according to the areas in France and the families.
In Occitan, we call them: Mameta, Menina
February 18th, 2006 at 3:50 am
Sorry, forgot grandfathers. They can be called: Papy, Pépé, Pépère and also Papé in French.
In Occitan, we call them: Papet, Papeta, Pepin.
I’d like to add that Papé and Mamée are Occitan words pronounced the French way. That’s how I used to call my own grandparents.
February 19th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Today I went to a party in New York, where you come across people from all over the world. I was able to find out the words for Grandma and Grandpa in Greek and Yiddish, and also what they say in Ireland.
In Ireland they say “Nana” and “Granddad” for Grandma and Grandpa.
In Yiddish, they say…
Grandpa = zeyde
Pronounced zey’∙deh
I heard it pronounced as zaydie
Spelling in Hebrew is זיידע
Grandma = bobe
Pronounced boh’∙beh / boo’∙beh
I’ve always heard it as bubbie or bubby (which is the Romanized Jewish American spelling)
American Jewish spelling in Hebrew is בובע
Granny = bobeshi
Pronounced bo∙besh’∙ee
Many thanks to Yiddish Dictionary Online for the Hebrew spelling. It’s also where I found “granny” in Yiddish. My thanks also go out to Edna and Susan Pomerantz for help with the Yiddish. Susan also said Grandma in Yiddish could be “Nana”.
The Greek words of endearment for Grandma and Grandpa are…
Grandma = ΓΙΑΓΙΆ (the accent can be on top of the A)
Pronounced yiayia
Grandpa = ΠΑΠΠΟΎΣ
Pronounced as pappu by kids (grandpa) or pappous (grandfather)
Many thanks to Julia and Peggy for help with the Greek words.
February 20th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
Grandma is “nagyi”, “nagymami” in Hungarian. Grandpa is “nagypapi”, sometimes “papi”. The accent is always on the first syllable in Hungarian. “gy” is a soft sound pronounced like “di” in the Russian name “Nadia”. I hope I could provide you some new and interesting information. Yours, Márta Solt, from Hungary
February 23rd, 2006 at 11:14 am
I remember as a child, all the kids in the neighborhood called a friend’s grandmother, from Poland, Babka. I looked it up in a Polish dictionary and Babka is interestingly a Polish word for grandmother.
Here’s what it had for Grandma…
babcia, babunia, babula
Here’s what it had for Grandmother…
babka, babcia, babunia, baba
Out of curiosity, I looked up Grandfather and Grandpa in Polish and here’s what I found…
Grandpa = dziadunio, dziadzio
Grandfather = dziadek
PS There’s also a delicious bread/cake from Eastern Europe called Babka. It’s sometimes filled inside with fruit or chocolate and sometimes has a glaze on top. I believe there’s a connection with the “babka” for grandma. Perhaps it was someone’s “grandma’s cake”, and thus named after grandma: babka.
It’s served for Easter in Poland and Ukraine. I’ve also found out that “Baba” means “grandmother” in Ukrainian, and more informally, it’s “babka”.
February 25th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
In Cantonese, we call our grandmother “ma ma” (pronounced in a lower pitch than you normally say “mama” to refer to your mother).
Grandfather is “yeah yeah”.
March 1st, 2006 at 9:29 am
My fosterbrother has a daughter who spent the first 5 years of her life in Java (Indonesia). She calls my mother “Nanek”, something my mother is so taken with my kids are being brought up to use it too.
March 8th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Patrick sent me the Scottish words for Grandma and Grandpa…
Lisa,
children are called bairns or weans (pronounced wains) in my dialect of Scots. They call their grandma either granny or nanna. Grandpa is granda (pronounced gran-da). I have never heard anyone say grandma or grandpa in Scotland.
I would not claim that this is definitive, as I grew up in Glasgow. There the dialect is more diluted and has more standard English words than other parts of the country. I have also lived out of Scotland for more than 12 years now, so in a sense you have my dialect frozen in time on 4th January 1994.
Patrick
March 8th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
I came across a Swedish nanny that I see from time to time at my daughter’s preschool. I asked her what would be endearing words in Swedish for grandma and grandma. She told me that the words differ depending upon whether your referring to the child’s mother’s mother or father’s mother.
Here are the Swedish words for grandma and grandpa…
Mormor = grandma in Swedish referring to the child’s mother’s mom
Morfar = grandma in Swedish referring to the child’s mother’s dad
Farmor = grandpa in Swedish referring to the child’s father’s mom
Farfar = grandpa in Swedish referring to the child’s father’s dad
If you’re interested in where these terms come from, it’s interesting to note that…
Mor = mother (the formal term)
Far = father (the formal term)
She said that children wouldn’t nowadays call their mother “mor” or their father “far”. It would sound old fashioned and formal.
March 8th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Makes me think of the way Lakhotas call their grandparents:
paternal and maternal gf: tunkashila (kaka=informal term of address),
maternal gm = unci (oon-chi), paternal gm= kunsi (koon-shi).
I’d like to add that I do wish any Lakhota visitor to contribute a Lakhota kidsong or a lullaby so Lisa could post it/them on both Mama Lisa’s World sites so that their culture would show there. Lila pilamayaye.
March 9th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
I was excited to read Kathy’s question, because I am searching for something similar. I am trying to find out if someone speaking the Occitan language in medieval times might possibly call a grandmother something like “grandmamma.” In my French dictionary I find “grandmaman” as a translation for the English “grandmamma.” In a French-Occitan dictionary I found the Occitan “grand-mair” for the French “grand-mere.” So it seems they share similarities.
I am writing a story and it would help advance part of the story if this were possible. Can anyone help? Thanks so much.
March 9th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
What I can say is that in medieval texts, they never spoke informally, then it’s hard to know. But, if we consider that Occitan hasn’t changed tooooooooo much since the Middle Ages and that people who had Occitan as their mother tongue addressed their father and mother “Pair(e)” and “Mair(e)” not long ago, I don’t think that they addressed their grandparents other than “grand-pair” and “grand-mair” in the Middle Ages. More information to come after advice from a teacher of medieval Occitan!
March 10th, 2006 at 12:55 am
Thanks very much for your help, Monique.
March 10th, 2006 at 11:04 am
My Grandparents who lived in Hawaii always referred to themselves as…
Tutu (Grandma) and Tutu-man (Grandpa).
March 12th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
Here’s what Gérard, my former teacher, said
Bonjorn,
ai pas la mendre idea dau biais que lei pichon s’adreiçavan a sa grand! L’a ges de grand dins la literatura occitana medievala, que sapchi ieu! Devia estre un luxe grand de n’aguer una! E en cò dei trobadors, podetz imaginar ! Mi demandi quora lei mametas an fach son entrada en literatura…
= I haven’t the faintest idea of how kids would address their grandmothers! There’re no grandmothers in the medieval Occitan literature, as far as I know! It must have been a great luxury to have one!
And concerning the trobadours, you can imagine! I wonder when grandmothers first appeared in literature…
So thanks Gérard!
Btw, I asked one of the Spanish twins we have at school and she said they addressed their grandparents as “abuelo” and “abuela” (that’s the way my own parents addressed their own grandparents but I wanted to be sure that other more modern words weren’t in use.)
March 13th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
Monique wrote me…
“Ulrike’s sons told me they called their German grandparents ‘Oma’ and ‘Opa’.
I also asked a boy of Portuguese origin: he said Grandma is Vovó and Grandpa is Vovô.
(The difference in the pronunciation is ‘ó’= open ‘o’ (like in French ‘robe, pomme’) and ‘ô’= closed ‘o’ (like in French ‘mot bateau’).”
I believe in English that would make it “ó” like “rob” and “ô” like “go”.
March 15th, 2006 at 11:05 am
I am only in a small German class, but formally, grandmother = Grossmutter, or Oma, and grandfather = Grossvater, or Opa. Also, from my Australian friends, they call they’re grandfathers grandad. Maybe it’s just them. Shrug.
March 15th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Karim told me they call their grandfathers and grandmothers “jeddi” (jed-dee) and “jedda” (jed- dah) in Arabic (he’s of Moroccan origin), and that they also use “muilalla” (mweelal-lah) and “ba sidi” (bah-seedee), which would be kind of like “granny” and “grandaddy”, as Hassan, one of my student’s fathers had told me. Besides “jeddi” and “jedda” they’re called “azizi” (ahzeezee) and “aziza” (ahzeezah) in Tunisia. Tifinaghe (Berber) words coming soon!
March 18th, 2006 at 6:35 am
Arabic (next): the father of another student of mine said that in Algeria, they call their grandfathers and grandmothers “jeddi” and “jedda” (which mean literally “grandfather” and “grandmother”) but also “jeddati” and “jeddata” which mean kind of “grandpa” and “grandma”. He confirmed that they also address their grandparents as “azizi” “aziza” like in Tunisia. Both words literally mean “darling”, masculine and feminine form.
March 18th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
I live in Spain. My grandchildren call me Yaya and Granddad is Yayo, although the formal term is abuela and abuelo
March 20th, 2006 at 6:27 pm
Here’s another one (it’s great to be a teacher!)
A girl at school told me that in Laotian, grandpa was ph? tū (ph being p+h and not a different spelling for “f” like in words of Greek origin like “photograph”) and grandma is mē tū (”e” like in “bed”), both words with long vowels.
March 21st, 2006 at 10:01 pm
In Quebec French, we say “grand-maman” and “grand-papa” – literally grand-mommy and grand-daddy.
March 24th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
In Vietnam, they say ông for grandfather and bà for grandmother, but any old person can be called ông or bà. Paternal grandfather is ông ngoại and maternal grandfather is ông nội, while paternal grandmother is bà ngoại and maternal grandmother is bà nội. Thanks Mr Nguyen!
April 5th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
I am searching for names for my daughter to call her step-grandparents – she already has grandma, nana, nanny, papa, grandpa and grandpaw. I love this list that you are putting together. I found this link to the NY public library, it is also helpful. Hope this is helpful to others as well!
http://www.nypl.org/branch/central/dlc/df/expressions/grandmother.html
April 20th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
My daughter’s best friend calls her grandmother me-me. I think that could be a nice one for women looking for short names for their grandchildren to call them. It’s easy for kids to say and it doesn’t sound old.
May 23rd, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Hi In Ireland, people who speak english, call their grandmothers, nanny, gran, granny, nan, nana and their grand fathers granddad or granda mostly. In irish we call granmothers, mamo (mom-oh) ahd grandad (dado) (dad-o) while the official terms are seanmháthair (old mother) and seanathair (old father) in some irish speaking regions ‘old parents’ find this insulting and are instead reffered to as máthair críona, and athair críona meaning wise mother, wise father. In some regions however ’sean’ is not a problem and children whould learn ’seanmháthar’ in school and non native speakers would use thiese terms.
June 8th, 2006 at 10:17 am
Where I come from in Eastern Canada, I can’t recall anyone ever referring to grandparents by traditional names such as grandma, or grandpa. Kids have a tendency to pick their own names for for familiar faces from a young age and when I was growing my parents never really corrected us and our relatives took on those names even as we became adults. My grandmother’s name was Margaret and she became “grandmarg” for me. My other grandmother, whom I was much closer to, became simply, “other ma” in my childhood mind.
There were even stranger names for uncles and aunts, some of which I can’t recall. I do remember an uncle who was called goong gong or something like that. That one never stuck though…
June 14th, 2006 at 9:20 am
Hi,
I agree with Troy that kids attach names that they find appropriate and easy to remember.
For example, my cousins call their grandparents on their father’s side: Sydney grandma and Sydney thatha (they are of indian decent) because they live in Sydney.
When they were younger, our shared grandmother was attatched with different names according to where she lived (and seeing that she moved a lot that meant that the name changed too) but now she is simply ‘grandma’. I myself call my grandparents on the other side of the family Ma and Papa.
I noticed that italy isn’t mentioned yet- my boyfriend refers to his grandparents as nonna and nonno. Good Luck with the rest of the list
July 7th, 2006 at 9:52 pm
Tadig= Grandfather in French
July 8th, 2006 at 8:55 am
I’ve never heard Tadig used in France for grandfather. I was curious about it, so I asked Monique from France about it. Here’s what she said…
This is Breton, not French, and means little dad = daddy (”ig” is the diminutive suffix). Granddad should be Tadig kozh (lit. daddy old). I suppose he or she heard some Breton children call their granddad this way.
Breton is spoken in Brittany, a region in north western France.
We have some Breton children’s songs on Mama Lisa’s World.
August 31st, 2006 at 10:15 pm
In Romanian, grandmother is Bunica and grandfather is Bunicul or Bunelo.
I’m actually searching for the origin of “Kiki”. I know when I was pregnant I found that somewhere it means grandma. Now when I google it, I find nothing of the sort. It actually means some very strange things. Anyway, my son calls my mother “Kiki”…Please tell me this means grandma somewhere!??
September 8th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
In Ukrainian, the term for grandmother is BABA. The only variation that I am aware of is Babunia (baboo-nya)
The term for grandfather is DIDO (dee-do). Again, to my knowledge, there is only one variation and that is Didush (dee-dush).
The most common terms by far are Baba and Dido.
September 30th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
In the Philippines
Grandmother is “Lola” (short ‘o’ sound’ like lohlla)
Grandfather is “Lolo” (sounds like low low)
October 30th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
How do you say grandma in Russian?
October 31st, 2006 at 2:53 am
Grandma in Russian: Baba > Babooshka or babushka, however you spell it. It’s spelled бабушка in Russian.
October 31st, 2006 at 12:01 pm
I am English and my husband Italian, Granny and Papi is what my grandson named us.
November 7th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
Zsofia Valentin wrote…
I’ve read the blog and I saw somebody was looking for the word ‘grandmother’ in different languages. If she’s still missing the Hungarian translation, than there are some:
nagymama (the most common)
nagymami, nagyi, nagyika, mama, mami (like ‘granny’ in English)
nagyanya (more formal)
I noticed that Kathy was looking for the word ‘grandfather’ as well. So:
nagyapa, nagypapa (the most common)
nagypapi, papa, papi, nagytata, tata (like ‘grandpa’
in English)
November 22nd, 2006 at 8:11 am
In swiss (language used in the german part of Switzerland) a grandmother is:
Grossmueti
Grosi
Nonna (in the italian part)
And a grandfather:
Grossätti
Grossvati
Öhi
Ätti
December 31st, 2006 at 1:38 am
Hi I was wondering if you know the different names for grandma and grandpa in Danish?
Thanks
January 2nd, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Well, I’m swedish but as far as I know grandpa is bedstefar and grandma is bedstemor. No difference is made between paternal an maternal grandparents. Far and mor means the same as in swedish, father and mother, but is less formal. Bedste actually means the best. Very sweet I think. :)
January 4th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
how do you pronounce the swedish words for grandma and grandpa?
January 5th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
On this site you can hear it being pronunced: http://lexin2.nada.kth.se/sve-sve.html
The site’s in swedish, but easy to use anyway. Just write the word in the box in the upper left corner. The word with explaination in swedish appears to the right. Click the loudspeaker in the text to hear it.
I think that’s the best way to explain. Pronuncing the word ‘far’ is not hard (just like the english word far), but the o-sound in ‘mor’ is harder to explain as it is different from anything used in english. Think of it as pronouncing the word ‘more’. Then you just combine the two: “more-far”, “more-more” etc.
January 11th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
My great grandparents were from Poland. I went on line to look up the correct spelling for what we always called them and was surprised to see nothing similar. Please help! (great) grandma we called bobchi and (great) grandpa we called gagi. Do you know the correct spelling on either of these names? Thanks!
January 31st, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Grandma in Russian is Sasha; in Greek it is Yaya. Those are the only two I have researched for myself.
February 4th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
In Italian we call our grandparents
grandmother’s:
Nonna
Nonni
grandfather’s:
Nonno
March 20th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Hi ummm do you know if Yaya has any accent marks in it?
March 20th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Yes, it’s spelled like that γιαγιά
March 25th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
My daughters call their maternal grandmother “Amma” and their maternal grandfather “Papa”. Their paternal Grandmother is “Nanna T*****” and their paternal grandfather is called “Grandpa Gordie”. These are just what we call them. Grandpa Gordie’s name, of course, is Gordon. The names are not deeply rooted in any family tradition, it’s just what the kids pronounced when it mattered, and they stuck.
My kids called my grandma “Oma” (Dutch for grandmother) and my Grandpa “Opa” (Dutch for Grandfather.) I just called them “Grandma and Grandpa O”.
May 4th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
I lived in Texas for a time and these terms were given: Meema, & Pepah, Mamaw & Papaw
May 17th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Hi
I am Hungarian but living in New Jersey. You can call your grandma: Mamo, Mamoka,
Nagyi, Mama, Nagyika, Mamcsi.
You can call your grandpa: Papa, Papi, Papcsi, Papika, Papo, Papoka.
June 19th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Hola,
I´m from Madrid (Spain). Here we call our grandparents
grandmother yaya
grandfather yayo
but we spelled like that γιáγιa
We used too tata and tato when babys are learning to talk to teach them. I ear a lot ¿Dónde está la tata? Where is grandma?
September 7th, 2007 at 10:45 am
What is the name for Grandma and Grandpa in Scottish?
September 12th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
Hi, i just wanted to thank y’all for these great names for Grandpa and Grandma! I’m a brand new foster parent to a 10 month old who is not allowed to call our parents grandpa and grandma. Since we wanted special names for our parents to have a sort of familial, closer feel, than if we used their first names, we are hoping to use some of these names. Thanks again!
September 18th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Growing up one of my Grandmother’s was Mutti. I have no idea where it came from, but someone said it was a diminutive of mother in German (Mutter).
Part of my family is Fryslân, a northern province of the Netherlands. There they speak both Dutch and Frisian (also spelt Friesian). Grandma in Frisian is beppe (bep-pe) and Grandpa is pake (pa-ke).
This is not a foreign name, but a common endearing name in the south is called wee-mama. I have also heard me-ma and me-mama.
September 18th, 2007 at 11:21 am
I asked one of my Dutch friends if there are more ways to say grandma besides Oma.
here is what he told told me
grootmoeder => bookish/distantiated/formal
oma (OH-mah)=> neutral
opoe (OH-poo) => derogatory
omie (OH-mee) => jokingly/childish
November 4th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Shalom,
I know the formal words in Hebrew are Savta/Saba= Grandmother/Grandfather. Does anyone know the endearing terms? (In Hebrew, not Yiddish.)
November 11th, 2007 at 9:05 am
In Welsh, in the Southern Region of Wales, Grandma is “Mam-gu” and Grandpa is “Tad-cu” in the Northern Region of Wales Grandma is “Nain” and Grandpa is “Taid.” In Wales we also speak English and children often call their Grandma “Nan” “Nanny” and “Gran” and their Grandpa “Grampy” and “Bampy.” Other names, too, I am sure, but those are the main ones.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I would like assistance pronuncing the title of Anouilh’s play “Leocadia.”
January 10th, 2008 at 4:55 am
I’m trying to track down a word that I THINK pertained to a grandfather, but the person who used the term couldn’t spell it for me at the time…it’s been driving me nuts for YEARS now :) it was pronounced something like zhee-doo…and I’m really curious as to what language it might be AND how it’s spelled :) Thanks! :)
January 13th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Darcy,
On February 19th, 2006 at 11:01 pm, Lisa wrote that
In Yiddish, they say…
Grandpa = zeyde
Pronounced zey’∙deh
I heard it pronounced as zaydie
Could that be the Zhee-doo that you are looking for?
In Yiddish, nouns are not normally inflected for case.
I don’t know the rules, but Zheedoo could be an inflected form of zeyde.
January 13th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Hey, Ed :) Thanks for your reply! :) I wonder :) I was FAIRLY certain that the speakers in question were either Greek or Armenian, but that probably doesn’t mean anything :) As my friend who is about to become a grandmother has said, the baby will call her whatever he feels like calling her, no doubt :) and the same could apply in this case, no? :) I love a good mystery, though…:) Cheers and hope you’re headed into a wonderful week! :)
January 14th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Thanks for the great ideas. I am a new Grandma and excited about her but not the prospect of being called Grandma so have been looking for ideas. Also because she has multiple sets of Grandparents and Great Grandparents due to divorces in my generation, it would be nice to have something original. Since we are in Texas, I guess it could be GranTex!
January 18th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
What a neat website this is! I am a very young grandmother and my grandsons call me Grammy and my husband Pappy. I liked Meme but it was already taken by another grandmother. They also have a Nanny,Nanna, Grandmother, Noni. If I could pick again I think might pick Yaya or Sasha.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I often dream what my grandbaby or grandbabies will call me…I think I’ll let the first make that call…:) It’s funny.. MY mother wanted to be called “Granny” to her grandchildren, and my nephew decided it would be “Nanny” – and so it was Nanny to all successive grandchildren.
February 3rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Does anyone know the words for Grandma & Grandpa in Norwegian?
February 4th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Grand-mother is “bestemor” and grand-father is “bestefar”. Endearing terms “Mormor” and “Morfar”
February 21st, 2008 at 4:15 am
Hi,I am Dutch originally and they say Oma-grandmother and
Opa -grandfather.
But Opoe is used for the mother of the grandmother;
like great-grandmother usually the oldest still alive.
Opaatje for endearing but otherwise Opa for the male version stays the same
Omaatje for endearing(means little Oma)etc.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
On Aug 31, 2006 Sophie posted this, Did anyone find out if Kiki meant Grandma anywhere?
March 13th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I was the first grandchild so the naming of the grandparents was left up to me and my childish form of english. ‘Mama’ is my moms mom who I am closest to and ‘mama kinkin’ is my dads mom because she was the ‘mama’ with chickens unfortunately both grandfathers became ‘papa’.
Now my children are the first great grand kids so ‘mama’ has turned into ‘g-mama’
my childrens’ grand parents are pretty simple
Nana & Papa, Grama & Grumpa, Baba & Deda, and Grandma T.
I have a girlfriend whose daughter calls her grandmother ‘Glamma’ one can only guess on the reason for that :)
March 13th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
That makes me think – I should mention that my kids call their great grandmother “G.G.” – which stands for “Great Grandmother”!
March 18th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Interesting site. I am about to become a grandmother for the first time and don’t feel old enough to be callled granny so I might pick something else more exotic!
As a child in Scotland I called my mothers parents Maw and Di (don’t know if that’s spelt correctly – i sounds as in bike). I’ve never heard that anywhere else.
April 1st, 2008 at 2:18 am
I have always thought that Grannies need to choose a name for themselves that better reflects their own image.
I am into yoga so thought of Oumy representing the mantra Oum and I also ride a Yamaha motor bike so thought of Yamy.
I just have to convince my kids to have babies!
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Hi,
Our 2 year old granddaughter Lily calls her grandpa – pampa and
maama for grandma. Leaving out the g’s made it easier for her.
Wonderful to hear what these sweet little one call someone they
love so much….
April 14th, 2008 at 3:54 am
In Danish we distinguish between:
Fathers father: farfar
Father mother: farmor
Mothers father: morfar
Mothers mother: mormor
Less formal names would be: momse (mormor), moffe (morfar).
The terms bedstemor/bedstefar (grandmother/grandfather, literally best mother/best father) are hardly used in spoken language.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Here’s what I hear grandparents being called in my part of the world:)
In Mandarin
Grandfather (paternal): Zhu-Fu
Grandmother (paternal): Zhu-Mu
Grandfather (maternal): Wai-Kong
Grandmother (maternal): Wai-Po
In Hokkien (a dialect)
Grandpa: Ah-gong
Grandma: Ah-ma
In Cantonese (a dialect)
Grandpa: Yeye
Grandma: Popo
Some people use “GongGong”(grandpa) and “Popo” (grandma) but I’m not sure which dialect this would be. It’s a little mixed up here in Singapore where our use of Chinese is more relaxed in its accuracy (at least in my opinion). In fact, most of us speak in dialect only if our grandparents do!
April 15th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
sorry, i made a mistake about grandma in cantonese! It shoudl be “mama”
April 20th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I am confused about Baba- what specific language it does really come from? Urkaian or Russian- I have a mother in law whom’s hungrian- slokvec part. And she explained to me about baba as grandma and papu as grandpa..
So can you also help me with papu?.
April 30th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I am from Nova Scotia, My maternal grandparents were Nanny and Grandpa, my parents are Nanny and Grampa to my children.
My paternal grandparents were from Minnesota but grew up in Saskatchewan and they were known to us as Gramma and Grampa.
My kids have a variety. My husband has two families. The first is from Estonia and they were known as Vanaisa (pronounced Vah na eesah) and Vanaema (pronounced vah na emma) but she was known as Memme (pronounced meh meh) His other parents (from New Brunswick are called Papa and Nana)
I came across your site because I am about to become a grandmother and am having a hard time finding a name. I would like to know more ethnic nicknames. For exampl I like Vanaema but memme was always hard fro my kids to pronounce. I like Ema but that means mother in Estonian. I would like something to represent my Nova Scotia heritage but the only names I’ve been able to research are nanny or Nana. Any more suggestions? I would really like to hear more options from Estonia.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I am about to become a grandmother for the first time, and like many of you I have been thinking about what I’d like to be called. I’ve wanted “Nana” for a long time, but my daughter’s mother-in-law is saying the same thing. I had a Nana, and that’s why. I have Scottish and Irish in me, and after reading this realize that Nana fits with both. I also have German (don’t think they’ll call me Oma), and Cherokee. What are the names for Grandma and Grandpa in Cherokee, anyone know?
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
My husbands family is Hawaiian and we call grandma “amma” (but i think it means care giver in Chineese) lol – Grandpa – we are still working on trying to figure that one out. :)
May 25th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
how do you say Grandma and Grandpa in Albanian?
June 18th, 2008 at 8:52 am
I was born in Poland and my children call their grandmother “babcia” and their grandpa “dziadzio”(polish), and my husbands family is from Syria and my children call their grandmother “Tayta” and their grandpa “jedu” (arabic).
July 1st, 2008 at 8:52 am
Does anyone know Finnish translations for Grandma and Grandpa?
July 11th, 2008 at 1:11 am
I did not see India represented! Grandmother is “Agi” and grandfather is “Agi-ba.”
Namaste’
July 14th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
My dad and grandparents grew up in Ireland and we called our grandparents gram and grandpa or gramp. I was always led to understand these came from words for Grandmother in Irish, including Seanmháthair (shan a WAW her), máthair mhór (maw her aWOR), and máthair Chríona (MAW her KHREE un na), all of which mean “old mother”, “great mother” and “mother of the heart.” They are not used as forms of address though.
My dad who grew u in Dublin with a mother or ma from Galway called his grandmother Móraí (pronounced MO ree). He referred to his grandfather as Daideó (Daddo)
My mother is Jewish so that is another story again. Grandmother in Yiddish is Bubbeh” or “Bubbee”. Mine was my Bubbee. Grandfather is “Zaydeh” or “Zaydee and we called our wonderful granfather Zaydee and given that we livedin an area with less than 1% Jewish population,sometimes grandpa. Grandma was always Bubbee though.
Irish women are almost always a matriarch and you know the legends of Jewish grandmothers so I feel I really lucked out in having two cultural groups of strong women. Sadly, both my Bubbee and gram have passed on but I miss them every day! The same is true for my grandfathers!!
We did not call dad “da” which is the usual Irish name for father but he
July 17th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Our kids call one set of their grand parents, Nana for the woman and Fundaddy for the man.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:53 am
My Greek mother and grandmother both go by *MomMom* My Cherokee father goes by *PopPop.* My Polish husband’s father goes by *Grandpop* while he himself chose *Granddad* though our eldest granddaughter has taken to calling him *PaPa.* I chose *Nana.* My granddaughters’ paternal grandparents go by *Noni* and *PopPop.* Our eldest granddaughter also has a *Grandma* and a *PaPaw.* How my little granddaughters manage to keep all of our names straight boggles my mind!! LOL
My question: I have a friend whose daughter calls her grandmother *CoCo.* Is anyone aware of the origin? He believes it may be French?
August 6th, 2008 at 11:24 am
It has been fun reading all these sweet endearing names for grandparents. Funny, though, how kids so often come up with their own names for loved 0nes. Here are some my favorites from my (very American) family.
I’m Jamma to all my Grandkids (maybe combo of Jan and Grandma)
My kids named my Parents Luku and Going (Lucia and Gordon)
My Grandkids other grandparents are GiGi and Boompa (no idea where these came from).
We also have Nana, KK, Jampa and KEEEE
Can’t you just hear those cute little voices saying these wonderful names????
Thanks for asking…
Jamma
August 7th, 2008 at 9:38 am
My children call my mom “Tawna”, since she felt she was too young to be called grandma when my oldest was born. I was told it was a term for someone you respect/care about. Does anyone know what language it could come from? I don’t even know if that is how it would be spelled, but thats how we pronounce it.
Thanks!
August 10th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
In French “coco” was baby talk for egg (I don’t think it’s still used now) or is petname/sort for someone called Claude or Colette.
August 16th, 2008 at 7:27 am
In Tamil we call our grannies as ‘paatti’ or ‘aatha’ or ‘ammayee’
September 1st, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Can anyone give me the spelling of Grandad, Grandpa in arabic, thank you
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:36 pm
is Guedo a ukrainian term for Grampa?
Great site
September 27th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Does anyone know the Cherokee words for grandma and grandpa?
January 1st, 2009 at 10:56 am
Hi! For those of you who are interested: In russian, they say either baba or babushka. However, you might use babushka mostly, as baba could mean something like “Old hag”. I know that because this is the case in croatian, a southslavic language that has quite a lot in common with russian. Having said this, im not completly sure, because im norwegian.
Also, I have to words for the grandparents in romanian, if this is of any interest: For grandma, you could say bunica or bunicuta. The last t-sound has to be pronounced like that in “pizza”. Bunicuta is however more tender and you might use this when talking to small kids. Thus, when speaking abut your grandmother, you should say “bunica”, as the first form is primary for use in the family or close friends. For grandpa, you say “bunicul”. Like bunica, bunicul has its formal and informal forms. One might say “bunicule”. This means like “dear grandpa” or “tiny,beloved grandpa”. Again, this is very informal, used among family and people you know well. Romanians also tend to cut the “l” in the end of words. “catelus”, wich means “puppy” or “little dog” would be pronounced “catzelu`”. However, not all romanians do this. I know this because I have a great interest in romanian language and culture, and I also have friends in the neighbourig country of Romania, Moldova.
Hope that my coments can be to some help, I love this page.
Ida
March 12th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
I call my frisian grandparents Oatie and Opa (it was easier than Oaheit) and my other pair was Beppe and Pake. I havent been able to find any literature over the first pair, Oatie/Oaheit except that maybe its literaly old-mom and old-dad. Seeing as when my Beppe became a great grandma she didnt want to be called Oabeppe? anyone? anyone? beuller?
March 13th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I’m Filipino and in Tagalog we refer to Grandma as “Lola” and Grandpa as “Lolo”….in my family we refer to our grandparents are “Nanay” (Grandma) and “Tatay” (Grandpa)…but Nanay and Tatay is actually translated to “mother’ and “father”.
April 17th, 2009 at 2:31 am
This is very helpful! Danka/Thank-you, Gratias/Grazie. I’m Scotch, Irish, Dutch, English and very Ukrainian, but all American! (My boyfriend is Spainard and Italian.) My first darling grandson shares all this wonderful lineage and a great clan on his mother’s side. I’ve found some good ideas, as this is my first time being a grandmother. Again, thanks! Slavic Susan
April 18th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
When my grandson was born 19 years ago this April, I did not want to be called grandma; mostly because that was the name I used for my grandmother; beside, that was what my daughter’s-in-law mother was called. I decided to be called Gannie. MY son insists on spelling it Grammy.
Very recently, I text my grandson a Happy Birthday message and he noticed that I spelling it Gannie. When I first decided on this name for my grandchildren to use for me, I was told that it was a Germany spelling for grandmother. Does anyone know this spelling, Gannie, and from which culture is it used? I did not want Nana since that was the name my stepmother wanted.
June 8th, 2009 at 10:50 am
We called my moms parents, Nanita (her) , pronounced Na nee’ ta and called him Tatita, pronounced Ta Tee’ Ta. dont know where that comes from.
Called dads parents, buela Fina, from term abuela , spanish, and her name was Delphina. He was buelo Fino. Dont know why or how that happened since his name was Enrique’.
June 8th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I read somewhere that in Chile, grandfather is “tata”, “lelo”; and grandmother is “nana”, “lela”.
It can be “abu” or “abue” in some other Spanish speaking countries.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
My grandma name is Grandie which is a combination of Grandma and Sandie.
June 26th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I am soon to be a Grandma.But I would like a name that suits who I am.. I love the Grandma but it does not suit .Either does Nana..I am soon to be 40 most people around me seem to think something funky,upbeat or Fresh would be appropriate..Any ideas??
July 14th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Does anyone know the morrocan names fo grandma and grandpa?
July 21st, 2009 at 11:49 am
well… i am cantonese… and not too long ago i FINALLY figured out what is up with the family stuff and how to what to call them!!! in cantonese when you talk to an aunt, uncle, grandma, or grandpa you usually go by which side they are on like if they are on your mother’s side or your fathers side… also most of these are probably not spelt right cause i am going by how I think they sound… but some of them i go by how i usually spell it… hahaha!!!
mother’s side:
aunts: yi-yi
uncles: ko-fu
grandma: po-po
this is pronounced like the word “paw” in English… so it is like paw paw… if that helps…
grandpa: gong-gong
this one is definetly NOT pronounced like how it spells… but i have like no freaking idea how mix it in with a English word…
father’s side:
aunts: goo-goo
this one is pronounced like the word “goo” in English… so it is goo goo
uncles: souk-souk?
i dont have any uncles but i figured this one out pretty easily since i had a “uncle” which is not exactly my real uncle but was told to just called him this… so i figure that this is how you say uncle on your fathers side… i have no idea how to mix this one too…
grandma: ma-ma
grandpa: ye-ye
July 24th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Since childhood I have called my grandparents
Emma & Abba
a lose translation of Hewbrew mother and father
mother = אמא – eema
father= אבא – Abu
July 25th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
I’m looking for the language and meaning of the word “baboo” or “babboo”. Sally Brown of Peanuts fame would call Linus van Pelt “sweet babboo”, but no one has ever explained where the term came from. Can anyone help? Thanks, Arnie
July 25th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Arnie, speaking as a lifelong Peanuts fan, I’m glad to pass along the following tidbit, which I found here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/8443
“[Schulz's] wife Jeannie was certainly a fire-cracker (at 50, she started taking trapeze lessons!), and her comments often made the strip (like calling Schulz her “Sweet Baboo”)…”
As to where Jeannie got it… You’d have to ask her!
Jason
July 28th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
My little grandson Alex calls me “Meema” and my husband ‘Pop Pop” for our names. His other grandmother had the name of Nana. He suddenly came up with this for me. We were wondering what the origins of ‘Meema’ are, what country, etc. I love it as I’d never heard that expression before. We have been living in the South for the past 6 years and we wondered if it was a Southern expression. Any help would be soooo appreciated!!
Thanks so much,
Nanci:-)
September 10th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I have lived in Indiana all my life and the majority of most Hoosiers call their grandparents Mamaw and Papaw. My children called my Mamaw and Papaw ~ Big Mamaw and Big Papaw; They called my parents Lil’ Mamaw and Lil’ Papaw.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
I have been a grandma for six months now to two grand babies who are not talking yet. I am happy with what ever they want to call me, it is just so great to have them. Being called grandma is not a label of being old, it is a respectful name. I am 40 and would proudly go by that name. I raised my three children an have earned a name of respect, not some name that has no real meaning in my american life. If your culture has a name for grandma, then that is what you should go by. Just don’t try to pick one because of vanity. They may not say your name right anyways in the begining, so you can stick with the baby name or pick the name they will feel cofortable calling you as an older child. I think if you have fond memories of your grandparents you should go by thoes.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I have just looked on your website to try and find a name suitable for my brand new granddaughter to call me. I am 44 and everyone else tells me that I am too young to be a Grannie. My mum is scottish and my dad english. Babies dads mum is Nana, my mum is Gran, my mother in law is Grandma. I think I’ll leave it to my granddaughter, whatever she wants to call me will be fine by me.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
My mom’s parents were Babci and Dziadzi (Mom’s Polish) and my dad’s parents, well, Granddaddy was Granddaddy and my Grandmother on dad’s side died before my parents got married. My dad always referred to her as his mother, not my grandmother, but when I think of her or refer to her, I call her Grandma or Grandma Cook.
I’m Cioci (aunt) to my niece and nephew and just found out my niece on my husband’s side is newly pregnant! Already asked her if I could be Cioci to her baby, instead of Great Aunt… She said of course (thanks, Carrie!) – I have such warm memories of my Cioci Eliza… it just seemed natural that I’d be called by that name.
When I’m a grandparent I’d like to be a Babci, too. No idea what my husband wants to be called – our daughter just got engaged. He can’t handle the idea of being a grandfather yet!!!