Today, I’m thinking about Grandparent Names. Questions on my mind:
-How did you/do you address your grandparents?
-If you’re a parent, how do your kids address their grandparents?
-If you are a grandparent, or picture being one someday, how do you want your grandkids to address you?
I was thinking of this because of a birthday note that our youngest, Flora June received. Along with a birthday card, my mom likes to include a little info on one of the kids’ ancestors — just a paragraph or two with maybe a photo. Sometimes it’s a long-ago relative that lived in another country many generations ago. But this time it was someone a bit closer, someone I spent lots of time with as a child — my mother’s mother, Lucille Evans Pack, or in other words, Flora June’s great-grandmother. (Lucille passed away in 2012, when Flora June was two years old.) Here’s Grandma and Grandma Pack (Lloyd & Lucille):
In the little note, my mom referred to Lucille as GiGi, which is what her great-grandkids called her. I think that’s so cute — G.G., as in Great Grandmother! I’m not sure who thought to call her that. When I was a child, she never went by GiGi. To me, she was Grandma Pack (I also had a Grandma Stanley/Daisy, and a Grandma Rudi.) The name GiGi only entered the scene when I was an adult.
Did Lucille request the name GiGi? Did one of the great-grandkids start it? Did one of my siblings or cousins suggest it? Or maybe it was thought up by one of Lucille’s kids (my aunts and uncle and mother)?
It has me wondering, if we have grandkids someday, what will they call me and Ben Blair?
How about you? What are the grandparents in your life called? Maybe something you inherited from another country or another language? Gamma? Grammy? Poppa? Gramps? Baba? And what do you want your grandkids or great-grandkids to call you? I’d love to hear! If it helps, I just did a search for “alternative names for grandparents” and found this cute list. After reading it, I’m thinking our grandkids should call us Bubba and Ace — I get to be Bubba.
Here are a few links I saved for you:
-Tomorrow (Tuesday 5/4), you can check out the Minds After Covid event, marking the start of Mental Health Awareness month. I was interviewed about my depression for the event. It’s free, and you can register here.
-I Was 12 When We Met. An incredible essay by Eve Crawford Peyton about Blake Bailey, who was once her favorite teacher.
-Sometimes I remember how much money we pay to lock people up instead of helping them and I need to throw up.
-We’ve all heard about the 10-second rule regarding food, but this is the first time I’ve heard about the 7-second rule regarding embarrassment. Have you tried this? Does it work for you?
-A podcast about why Teslas keep crashing.
-I keep thinking about this tweet. I think it’s a helpful tool that I want to model for my kids.
I hope you have a lovely week.
kisses,
Gabrielle
Hi, I’m Gabrielle Blair and this is my newsletter. It’s completely free to access and read, but if you feel so moved to support my work, please consider a paid newsletter subscription: just $5/month or save money with the $50/annual sub. You can also go way above and beyond by becoming a Founding Member at $75. Not a fan of newsletters? You can support the work directly via Paypal or Venmo (@Gabrielle-Blair). Thank you! Seriously, thank you. Support from readers keeps this newsletter ad and sponsor-free.
My grandpas were Poppy (my maternal grandfather) and Pappy (my paternal grandfather- my oldest cousin mistook Poppy for Pappy and my grandpa, a pilot, loved it since one of the famous war pilots was Pappy, so it stuck). My maternal grandma was/is Nanny. My paternal grandma died before I was born, but we referred to her as Grandma Nea. My grandpa’s second wife was Grandma Jeri. My great grandmas were Grandma Iris, Grandma Liz/Mimi, and Grandma Ogden and one of my great grandpas was Bompy (not sure where that one came from??).
When I was young, my dad's parents were Grandma and Grandpa Woods. My mom's mom was Nanny (all of her grandkids and great-grandkids called her Nanny, even though her name was Edna), and my mom's dad was just Grandpa (they were divorced long before I was born).
When my husband's parents and step-parents were alive, our kids called his mom Nana (that was a name she picked herself for her grandkids to call her), and her husband at the time was Grampy, (he picked that name). His dad was called Papa, (not sure how he came to be Papa, but it fit him), and his step-mom was called Mema, (I'm not sure if she picked that or if her oldest daughter did when she had the first grandchild).
I don't have grandkids yet, but I think I would like to be called Gigi or Mimi. My sister-in-law is Gigi, and I really like that. My older sister is Nonnie to her grandchildren and my younger sister was Grammy, but now it is just Grandma.