I love to hear nicknames people have for their grandparents. More often it seems it's the grandFATHERS who get the nicknames. Grandmother may get something like "Nana" but the really odd ones that come from oldest grandchild tend to go to grandpa's. Names like "Far-far" and "Hi-Guy."
My grandpa was "Bente." "Bente" was named by my sister. I believe it came from my grandpa trying to call her over "Vente! Vente!" (Come here.)
So for us and my cousins it was always Abuela and Bente. In fact because it was so close to the spanish number "veinte" sometimes cards we got from them would be signed "Abuela and 20."
I too like the unique grandfather names. In my family we have Poppy (my brother couldn't say Pop-Pop) and now my dad is Nana-man. My nephew came up with that one all on his own.
ReplyDeleteI had a Grammy & Grampy on one side, and a Nana & Buddy on the other. (say hello to boring).
ReplyDeleteLovely picture, and that story is funny!
we had some odd names. Pap paw and bump pa were a few of them. Nice picture of you and your grandfather.
ReplyDeleteMom's side is Gram and Gramps (Unoriginal family) Father's side was Granny and Papa (Also.. unoriginal..)
ReplyDeleteMy Great Grandmother was Nana (Nay-nay) And actually named so because she didn't want to be called by one of the usual names but my mother as a kid couldn't say her real name and it came out as "Nay-Nay"
The Great Grandfather I knew was Charlie.
All the nicknames were given to me by them :B
Jorge,
ReplyDeleteThats cool! I always called my grandfathers formally 'grandpa'.
What is funny is the my grandpa Hernandez's first name was Mauro. I never new what that meant until someone told me it was Murray in English. I had my grandfathers name as my middle name and never new it until he passed away.
that's so cute :) my grandfather-in-law is called Dumpy by the family. i'm still trying to get to the bottom of that...
ReplyDeleteMy nephew called my dad, "Bobo". This was funny on so many levels. If the name fits, wear it!
ReplyDeleteMy nephew called my dad, "Bobo". This was funny on so many levels. If the name fits, wear it!
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks for sharing that sweet photo and memory.
ReplyDeleteI call my Grandpa "G-pa," and he calls me "Punkin." I don't think he's ever called by my real name... lol.
We're anxiously awaiting for our granddaughter, Elizabeth, to be talking (she's only 7 months now) and see what she's going to call me and my husband! Can't wait!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNothing strange, but I'm particularly fond of the mispronounced 'Allela.'
ReplyDeleteMy grandma on my dad's side was called 'Ba' by the whole family, for reasons I never understood.
Awww, that's so sweet! I always called my grandparents "grandma" and "grandpa".. Yeah yeah, I know, so original.. :)
ReplyDeleteAwww, that's so sweet! I always called my grandparents "grandma" and "grandpa".. Yeah yeah, I know, so original.. :)
ReplyDeleteThis should be a contest!
ReplyDeleteOn my Dad's side it was: Paw-Paw & Grandma. On my Mom's it was: Big D (his name was Dwight and he was a big man) and Grandma.
Funny thing is - now that I have kids - my parents and my in-laws picked their grandparent names...how does that happen. Although the in-laws are kinda cool: Bobbo and Mami
Mine were Nana and Papa on my mom's side and Grandma Garrett, Grandpa Rhoades and Grandpa Tom on my dads side (My dad's parents were divorced so I had doubles on that side but I hated my Grandpa Rhoades wife so I never called her anything!).
ReplyDeleteMy kids call my mom Grandma or Grand ma mere.
I want my grandkids to call me Grandma Lala!! The kids at the day care I use to work at years ago called me Ms. LaLa and my nieces call me Aunt Lala!
by the way, I love the picture.
I never knew my grandfathers, which makes me sad. One of my grandmother's insisted that I call her "Grandmother." She was a stinker.
ReplyDeleteMy kids called my father-in-law BamPaw for a long time.
My grandfather was known as "Pop" to pretty much everyone. He got that nickname in WW2 while he was a POW in Hong Kong. He was the oldest man in the camp. He actually begged the army to let him join because he felt it was his duty to his country. He'd already served in Belgium and France in WW1 so he was pretty old.. in his 50s I think in WW2. He was paymaster which ultimately was suppose to be a safe desk job but when the Japanese invaded Hong Kong he grabbed his gun fought along side the rest of the men in his regiment. He died in 1975. I was too young to appreciate his sacrifice. :-(
ReplyDeleteI never knew my grandfather on my mother's side but both grandmothers were "Granny".
It's weird, we didn't nickname our grandparents, but my paternal grandmother had nicknames for EVERYONE and we couldn't figure out where she came up with half of them.
ReplyDeleteMy childs tells to his granpa and granma, Kelo or Kela contractions for the words "abuelo", "abuela"
ReplyDeleteits sounds funny to me...
Have a good day Jorge.
My grandparents were "Grandma and Grandpa Chatter", with "Chatter" being their dog's name LOL.
ReplyDeleteMy kids call my mom Nammie (at her request), and my dad is Grandpa Napa (his cat's name is Napa LOL).
Names wise -
ReplyDeleteMaternal Grandfather - "Popsicle" and "Grampy"
Maternal Grandmother - "Jew drops", "Night mummy" (she used to take care of my sister and I at night whilst our mum worked), "Jeany" and "Grammy".
:D
cute story!
ReplyDeleteMy nephew called my mom "Ela" and my pa "Abu", from "Abuela". jajaja But now he calls them both "Abu".
My grandfather was an abusive drunk that died before I was born. You're really lucky to have been able to share time with your grandpa and have a good relationship with him. I often envy those who are close to their grandparents, because mine are either dead or aloof. You're very fortunate.
ReplyDeleteUntil I got married I just thought everyone was Grandma and Grandpa, LOL. Our grandchildren call us "Nana" and "Pop-Pop" and only other unusual names are Oma (German for grandmother but our kids call their great-grandmother Oma), Poe-Pah (my father likes to be called this, don't know why) and I've heard Meemaw and Peepaw.
ReplyDeleteFar-far is actually swedish and literally means "dad-dad", or dad's dad =) It's the regular word for paternal grandfather here. Maternal grandfather would be mor-far (mom's dad)!
ReplyDeleteThe 20 nickname is really sweet and a fun story! =)
For my Mom's side, there is my Lalita. And for my Dad's side there was a Miva, for Mamá Olivia.
ReplyDeleteI love your grandpa stories.
Far-Far is actually the swedish version of grampa ;) It means fathers father. Swedish grannies are Far-moor. Phonetically speaking of course.
ReplyDeleteI called my grandfather Bopie. No one has any idea why, but it stuck and now not just the family, but friends of the family and their kids all call him such.
My dad's dad was Granddad. His dad was Paapaa (say Paw-Paw). I have a real soft spot for grandpas. I was lucky; mine were the best. Both up before the sunrise and back with Dunkin Donuts and coffee before the house woke up. My mom's dad would take me fishing. Grandad took me to the corner candy store for foot-long bubble gum sticks, to the creek to hunt for turtles, or (a real treat here!) through the drive-in carwash. Good times...man, I miss them. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteMy maternal grandparents are/were Grandma and Grandpa, and my paternal grandparents are Grandmom and Grandpop. Grandpop's parents were (to me) Nannie and Pop-pop, and Grandmom's stepmother (who's still alive at 94!) is my Mom-mom. I write her a letter every month. She can't write back, but it helps me feel connected to her, and I've been told she loves hearing from family.
ReplyDeleteOn my mama's side, my grandmother was called "Maw-maw" spelled "mama" though, and my grandfather was Paw-paw" spelled "papa" because theyre from the south.
ReplyDeleteMy dad's side was Granny and Grandaddy, but thats not interesting.
What's interesting is that my grandaddy called my granny "Butch" haha. Because she was a tom boy.
I couldnt help smiling when I read your blog, because in Denmark Bente is a girls name.... so is Nana/Nanna (my niece is called that) and Far-far is the danish word for grandfather (on your fathers side - Mor-far if its on your mothers side). So now you learned some danish words as well... by the way, I do actually speak spanish as well (or so it says on my papers, LOL)
ReplyDeleteWe called my grandpa "Papa Sully" Not too original, but still sweet.... Unfortunately he gave me the nickname "Squirt" which stuck until High School.....
ReplyDeleteI had Nana and Oppie haha I am the oldest of the grandchildren and I am the brain child of Oppie. I don't know where it came from or when it came about but I didn't want to say grandpa. It stuck and my cousin, who is about 5 years younger than me, started calling him that once she could talk as well as my other cousin, who is 10 years younger than me.
ReplyDeleteOne funny thing my mom likes to remind me of is back in 3rd grade I had an assignment at school and Oppie was currently in the hospital with some health problems, and I wrote about. I brought it home, very proud and my mom cracked up. She showed in to my nana I didn't understand. I was spelling "Oppie" (their assumed spelling of it for cards, etc) Opipe. So from then on they would call him O-Pipe.
I was never close to my other grandparents, so I never really called them anything, to tell you the truth.
Nice pic of you and your grandpa!
We have Pop-Pop and Granddaddy (not too many words with double double dee's)
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet photo~~
ReplyDeleteLove ya much.
Tena
I always just used Grandma and Grandpa, but now my cousin's kids started calling my Aunt Munga, and they refer to my Grandma as Great Munga. Now we call her "The Great Munga," like she's a magic act. :)
ReplyDeleteMy nephew calls my husband Gunkle, and my in-laws Mo and Da.
My great-grandparents were Mim and Pip.
ReplyDeleteSo I never knew either of my grandfathers, but I did know my grandmothers. My Maternal Grandmother was Grandma, My Paternal Grandmother was Nonna (both now sadly deceased).
ReplyDeleteMy nieces (and now my dog) call my mother "Mimi". She's their step-grandmother, and when my oldest niece was born, my mom was only 34...too young to be a "Grandma" "Nana" or "Granny" in her eyes. So she picked the name "Mimi" after a little girl who she used to babysit called her that, because of her inability to say her real name, Mariann.
My grandma is Nubby. When she was born she was chubby so everyone called her Chubby. My cousins couldn't say Chubby when they were little so they called her Bubby. When I was little I couldn't say either one so I said Nubby. Nubby -grandma of many names. My grandfather was easy - Poppa.
ReplyDeleteWe called my Puerto Rican grandpa Papí.
ReplyDeleteMy kids call one of their Grandpas "Bumper". He drives bus for the City of Madison (WI).
Aw, that actually made me tear up a little! Your Bente sounds like he was a really neat guy.
ReplyDeleteMy step dad's name is Clarence, and for a while my kids called him "Bampuh Parents." He liked that. :-) My mom was "Bamuh," and my grandma was "Date-Bamuh." (Great Grandma) Now they've mostly got everyone sorted out, which is kind of sad, really.
Hi Jorge, my name is Janssen Barufe, I am Brazilian, admire Lost and also much his work as well as all other actors and actresses who are spectacular. Because of my passion for Lost, I together with a team developing a magazine called Season which is currently in its second edition and deals exclusively with Lost and its mysteries. The magazine Season is a non-profit project, we want to spread the culture Lost for those who do not yet know, so I come to you asking for support. I will leave my e-mail, the website where you can see the magazine, pointing out that the second edition we are still translating and providing the English version.
ReplyDeleteViewing: 1º edition - http://issuu.com/mianni/docs/season_ingl_s_
2º edition - http://issuu.com/mianni/docs/season_2
A big hug, I hope we can make a partnership, thank you very much!
-janssen_ogro@hotmail.com
The same applies to us. My older sister called my grandmother and grandfather "Mama" and "Peesie", respectively.
ReplyDeleteI was the rebel. I call my grandmother "Grandma", and I called my grandfather (he passed away last month) "Grandpa".
I called my Grandpa "Bugga" when I was little.
ReplyDeleteHe was apparently really sad when I learned how to say Grandpa.
(I was the oldest grandchild too - interesting...)
The photo is so cute!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy grandpa's nickname is Oompie because he played in an oompah band. ...At least I think that's how the story goes. I'm sure my parents just made that story up to appease me. All I know is that I call him Oompie, and he calls me Pigpen.
ReplyDeleteI've been gone and haven't been able to look at your blog in a week, so you probably won't see this, but I felt compelled to reply.
ReplyDeleteI lost my grandma last year, but to me she was always "Munga". I don't know why - I called her that from the time I could speak. Munga was the best grandma ever. :)
Fun thread idea, btw.
Duh... Just realized you specified "grandpa" nicknames, not "grandparent" nicknames. Well... Munga is still pretty funny. I suppose you could pretend I called my grandpa "Mungo".
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather was called "Gigi Baba" which for for some reason I started calling him when I was three - it got shortened to "Gig" and that will be going on his gravestone. He died 2 months ago today.
ReplyDeleteMy kids named my parents 2 totally different things. My daughter calls them "Mugga" and "Grammy". My son calls them "Dad-Dad" and "MeeMaw". I love the "Abuela and 20". Too Funny.
ReplyDeletein italy we call our grandparents "nonna" (f) and "nonno" (m) ...and...stop!
ReplyDeleteno nicknames!!! ^_^'
My children nicknamed my mother-in-law "Gummy" when they were young and she's still "Gummy" to this day. I'm not sure why. She has all her teeth and they were able to call their other grandmother "Grandma" just fine.
ReplyDeleteAh, naming your grandparents via Ethnic Origins. My half-British/Eastern European half-Dutch, all Jewish heritage gives me:
ReplyDeleteBubbie and Zayde (Yiddish, mom's side)
Oma and Opa (Dutch, dad's side)
Dad's Side: Grammie and Papa
ReplyDeleteMom's Side: Mammo and Pappo
I had a grandmother I used to call 'Mama Bird' & she called me 'Baby Bird'. My maternal grandparents are called Oma & Opa (dutch) & my daughter calls my mom Nanny.
ReplyDeleteJorge, I just saw your interview on Jimmy Kimmel and I thought you were cool in person and funny too.. I really enjoyed the interview and was glad to see you doing well.. Wish u all the best. ( I know that's lame, but I mean it)
ReplyDeleteAlso, its cool to see u have this blog
My cousins call their grandfather "Sparky". I think it started out as a joke (b/c he thought he was too young to be "Grandpa") - but it stuck!
ReplyDeleteOne day, my little 4-year-old cousin, saying goodbye to Granny and Sparky, called out, "Bye Granny! Bye Sparkle!" Hilarious.
We are going to become grandparents in the next few hours and were looking for good names for ourselves. I was SHOCKED to see there was another Munga out there! My Munga was named by my brother who had a speech impediment as it was the best he could do. From the moment he said Munga this very proper, very elegant, very inteligent British matriach became only Munga to all until she passed just days before her 100th birthday. I can't wait to tell my brothers! I would love to hear more about other Mungas!
ReplyDeleteMy boys call my dad "Bop". I don't know why, but I think it is the cutest thing ever!
ReplyDeleteMy dad loves Balance Bar energy bars & my boys like them now too. So myy 2 year old got confused the other day & called him "Bar" instead of Bop, LOL! I guess he was hungry.... :)
Cool. I started off calling my maternal grandparents Papá Chepe and Mamá Toni, but somewhere along the line I dropped the Papá and just started calling him Chepe. I was never chastised for being informal or anything. The paternal grandparents were called Grandma and Grandpa.
ReplyDeleteIn my family the nickname went to my grandmother, who's called Adelaide. It seems we just couldn't get it right so she got a nickname and never got her name back: even her friends call her Lai-Lai, the name we made up.
ReplyDeleteI call my granmother: Mamay and i call my grandpa: Papay... and Im 18 years old LoL!!! Hugs! U need Ur own show man! like a sitcom or sum... keep up the good work!!! and come visit Ecuador someday!
ReplyDeleteHi Jorge, just wanted to say that I love your blog. I'm a big an of yours :D
ReplyDeleteWell then, about the interesting topic of grandfathrs name.
I'm from Sweden and in Sweden we all (most people any way :P) call our granparents the same.
But we have 2 names, one name for your mother's father and one name for your father's father, so maybe you can call it kinda confusing, hehe.
Mum's father - Morfar
Dad's father - Farfar
Far is an other name for dad/pappa
Mor is an other name for mum/mamma
So basically it means:
Motherfather and Fatherfather XD
please jorge send me an e mail
ReplyDeleteto
natutat@hotmail.com
ohh that is so lovely!
ReplyDeleteyo and your grandfather!!!
this made me miss my pappy so much.
ReplyDeleteOn one side, we have Mimi & Poppy for my dad's mom and dad. On the other side, we had Granny & Deedo for my mom's mom and dad. "Deedo" comes from my big sis trying to say "Dad-o", which was his originally chosen grandpa-name, but it just didn't come out right, and the other way stuck.
ReplyDeleteMy uncle's grandkids refer to him as... umm... I'm not sure how to spell it. Imagine how you pronounce "huh-huh" as a negative response to a question. Replace the "uh" sound with a flat "a" sound (like the initial "a" in "average") and you'll have a close approximation.
ReplyDeleteThis got started with their oldest grandchild. When he was very little, he was being taught the names of his family members. There was mom, dad, and grandma, but he referred to grandpa with a rapid-fire, machine-gun-like noise: "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah". This got a lot of laughs, and the name ended up sticking.
Now their entire immediate family refers to him as "ahn-ahn" (the "n"s are nasalized).
Awww. That's really sweet. It reminds me how much I miss my grandparents.
ReplyDeleteMy mom's folks were Nanny and Tata - which makes it disturbing when folks refer to the twins with that particular nickname. My husband's father's folks are Grandmaw and Grandpaw - the extra w is not because they have a big mouth or big hands.
ReplyDeleteMy cousins call my grandma Bum. I have no idea why.
ReplyDelete