Genealogy Chat

You have set me off now Orange cat! I am on a misson to discover where the name Nana (in place of Grandma)originated from!
I came across this forum, which is interesting, but I still haven't found the answer. I will let you know when/if I do.
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/maternal/messages/41359.html

Agree with Laura, totally personal choice. I am Grandma, only exception is my 3 yr old grandson who insists on calling me g-ma, and of course my d-i-l's neice who calls me 'Phoenix's Grandma' (Phoenix being the 3 yr old grandson)

My mother and grandmother & gr-grandmother were grandma to the grands and Nana to the gr-grands.

My paternal gr-grandparents were Grammy and Grampy to all, and my mother and fathe out-law are Nana and Granddad to all.

Guess depends on geography, personal preference and amount of 'extended family' you have.

When I was a child, my Grandmother said to me, I am not your Nanny. Nannies are employed to look after children. I am your father's mother, so am your Grandmother.

Also I am not a Nanny Goat.

I always called her Granny, and also my mother's mother was Granny.

My maternal cousins called our Grandmother Nan, but I never did.

This has always stuck in my mind what my Grandmother said.

My husband always called his Grandmothers. Grandma.

Personal choice, but I prefere Grandmother.

My Mother's Parents were Ninna (because the eldest grandchild could not say Nanna so it stuck through 11 grandchildren and however many great grandchildren!) and Bampy.

My Father's Parents were Nanny and Grampy.

My Mum is Nanny to my Kids
and My wife's parents were Grandma and Bampy


Surprised Bampy hasn't been mentioned earlier - is this a Welsh thing perhaps?

Does anyone know if 'Nana' was used before Peter Pan, or after. Or was the dog named that because it took the place of a Nanny or nursemaid.?
As 'Wendy' did not exist as a name before Peter Pan, perhaps Nana was invented by J M Barrie too.

My paternal grandparents were known as Nanny & Poppy, don't know why but I was the eldest grandchild. My Irish grandmother was my Nan and her husband (step-grandad) was Pop's. My grandaughter calls me Nana, my daughter asked what I wanted to be called and my husband is Grandad. My mother and father were always called by thier first names - what they wanted. My son and daughter still call my Mum Kath. But my sisters children who are still young call her Nanny Kath, so do the greatgrandchildren.

Brenda in Wales, I was interested by your post remarking on the formality when we were young. I called both my grandmothers Granny followed by their surnames, my daughters call their grandmothers Granny followed by their christian names.
Must say I think I prefer the latter.

Hi

My Parents are scottish and so were theirs, and we called our grandparents Gran and Grandad, however since I had my children, my mum has still insisted that she is a gran whilst my m-i-l, who is english, prefers nan or nanny.

May be it is a north south divide!!

Lorraine

my kids have 3 grandma s 1 granny 1nanna 1 grandma it seem easy for them as the know who we are chatting about but the have 5 grandads which we just add the surname of that grandfather to who we are chatting about

I always referred to my grandmother as Nanny then Nan as I became older. My mum took the title Nanny when she became a grandmother.

My husband called his grandmother Gran.

I am about to become a grandmother, and I would me mortified to be called Granny or Gran....this title reminds me of a little old lady with glasses and knitting needles sitting in her rocking chair! lol I'm too young to be a granny so I have informed my daughter that my grandchild should call me Nanny Dee!!

I always thought that the name nanny came from the fact that in the past, quite a few grandmother's helped look after their grandchildren or even had to bring them up when their mothers had died....from the term "Nanny" as in the paid job. I may be wrong, but thats how I always saw it.