What do you call your grandmother?

Question

I have come across a lot of people who call their grandmother "nan" or "nanny", I always understood that a nanny was a paid (usually live in) childminder, and that the word nanny is actually a childish derivitive of aunt or auntie.
If someone mentions their "nan" I don't automatically assume that they are referring to their grandmother.
One young lady (of poor education) told me that her grandmother was not her grandmother but her "nan", although I am fully aware that the lady in question is in fact her natural grand mother.
So is it a class thing and if so is it upper or lower, to have a nan instead of a granny?

Answer 1

My paternal grandmother was always "Gramma" and my maternal has always been "Bobby" (which is a bastardization of the yiddish word "Bubbee" which means grandmother).

Answer 2

It came in during the 60s when parents didn't want to be called "mum and dad" but by their names because they wanted to be the child's "friend" and not an authority figure. Then when women's lib and the youth-cult of the 70's really kicked in, a lot of women didn't want to be seen as "grandmothers" so they didn't want to be called that. So it was Nana, Nan, Nanny, and even (in the States) Maamaw. The rich and the grand call their grandparents "Grandmammá" and "Grandpappá" which is actually Victorian
Meme is actually French slang, Pépé being for Granpa.
I just called my grandmothers "Gram" and "Grandma"...never knew my grandfathers.
Apparently now the fashion stateside is to call your grandparents (for example) "Mama Joan" and "Papa Ben" or whatever their names are.
People just don't seem to be able to accept the fact of aging anymore, perhaps because they see how they themselves have treated the aging?

Answer 3

I used to call my English Grandmother Nana and my Greek grandmother Yaya

They are both dead now unfortunately.

Answer 4

Nan, upper bred, is my grandmother and is a term of endearment in some coutries. When someone has a couple to a few grandparents, sometimes the variations play out all by themselves and they stick.

Answer 5

Kookom I'm a Cree Native

Mooshom is also Grandfather

Answer 6

i'm not sure, i'm from NY and i've always called my grandmother grandma, but when i moved down south my friends call there grandmothers, nanna or mamaw,(ma-maw) which i think is just a result of them not being taught how to say grandma correctly as they got older, it might be a class thing or just where a person is from

Answer 7

My mom's mom helped raise me and I called her grandmom, but when I was a little kid I called her 'Myna' it was just something I made up. My dad's mom, I hardly ever saw, because I hardly saw my dad. Growing up, my name for her was 'other grandmom'. Looking back it seemed a little harsh, but I guess as a child that seemed like an appropriate name.

Answer 8

I don't believe its a question of class - I know of people from different social classes calling grandma's 'nan'/nana/gran/granny and variations of these. I think it depends on what your parents called their grandparents.
I wouldn't agree that 'Nana' derives from Nanny (the childminder) or from Auntie, as I am of Pakistani origin and we call our mum's mother 'Naani' and our Dad's mother 'Daadi'

Answer 9

Due to a speech impediment when I was a child i had trouble pronouncing "nanny"(which is what all the grand kids called her but me",I some how derived the word "Lily"As her name and it stuck with my brothers and sister and when i got married my wife called her Lily as did bith of my children.
Even when she passed away her flowers from us had the name Lily as well as a single Lily flower.

Answer 10

Granny