Saturday, July 23, 2011

Grandma Names - Revisited

I have been a grandmother now for just over three years. What a fun and joyful ride it has been. You always hear about how wonderful it is going to be, but sweet mercy, there is no understanding it until you experience it.

Back in 2008 when we were expecting our first grandboy, Tyler, I was mulling over what I wanted my grandma "name" to be. In my nearly 500 posts of blogging it has been my most searched and most read post. I still get emails asking me what name I went with.

I'm not suprised that this is such a popular topic. It is very serious. The grandma name you choose will be yours the rest of your life and it holds much love, significance and reverence when it crosses a little ones lips. It is a connection of hearts - one heart with just a few beats and the other with lots more mileage. It is a name that thrills you like nothing else the first time you hear it and indeed, every time after.

I knew I didn't want to have the traditional name "grandma". My grandchildren have many grandparents in their lives - blood and adopted. I wanted a name no one else would have and would set me apart so there would never be any confusion about who I was. Some people suggested I just go with Grandma Robin - which would work but I just didn't feel comfortable with having my grandchildren using my first name. Too formal I guess. Some folks told me to let my grandson pick my name out - nope, too impatient for that.

I ended up choosing "Mia". To me it sounded close to mama - my favorite name ever. It also was short and simple. I love the way it sounds. It is unique and special and everything I wanted. My husband is Poppa - although Ava Claire calls him Poppy more often than not. We are Poppa and Mia and we love feeling the sweet, close connection those special names imply.

I was a bit taken aback at the strong feelings people have about grandparent names. Some people just tell you to your face that it is "stupid" to have a name other than grandma or grandpa. Really? Some people refuse to use your grandparent name - that's okay. Other people love it and totally get it. Most often those are the people who can't wait to be grandparents. My grandkids are at the age where they are learning that grandparents are the parents of their parents and it's so fun to watch the confusion turn to understanding in their little minds. There is not a single doubt that they know us as their grandparents.

Here is a fun little quiz to help you decide what your grandma name should be. Click here and take the quiz and then let me know what it said. It's a good thing to start pondering this most special name early - and it's really the only time in your life you get to choose your own name!

11 comments:

Kathy Schwanke said...

GREAT, I am a "traditional OLD fashioned grandma"...just call me granny...

I love your post Robin. I like the idea of having a unique name, but reality is I AM traditional... *sigh*

It's already set in w/ Bennett...I call myself gramma when i talk to him. I am going to think more on this...there is still time!

I "get" it now... ;)

Heidi Winter Tracht said...

I love the name you choose, and it is so sweet to hear your grand-babies call you "Mia."

Kathy ... aka Nana said...

Love the name "Mia".

You hit the nail on the head on the reasoning why not to be "just" Grandma. There's nothing sweeter than hearing your grands refer to you by your own special name (Nana in my case).

I have to admit that it's created some chuckles. One day I had my grandson with me at church ... he must have been about 3 y.o. at the time. Some referred to me by my legal name, and my sweetie got a little indignant and said "no, her name is Nana". <3 <3 <3

Becky said...

Hey, that was really a fun quiz. I am not even a grandma yet but I took it, based on what kind of grandma I plan on being. And I ended up the following:

You're a bit of a hippie, interested in preserving the earth and living naturally. Your taste tends toward the arty and bohemian, and no one, not even your grandchildren, knows exactly what you will decide to do next. Because you have such a global perspective, you may want to choose a grandmother name from another culture, such as the German Oma, Italian Nonna, the Hawaiian Tutu or the French Grandmere.

Which made me very happy. I have to say I have a friend who says she is going to let her grandson choose her name. So far he is 1 1/2 yrs old and she has no name. Nope! Not for me either. I'm with you ... picking mine ahead of time.

I also have to tell you I have friends who are Lolly and Pop. HA! Lolly-Pop .. get it. GROAN!!!!

Anonymous said...

Mia is a beautiful name. I remember for the longest time my oldest grandson called me "Mom". It was funny to hear him say to his mom, "You are not my Mom, she is!" :)

Dawn said...

I'm just Grandma, Grandma Dawn when they differentiate me from other grandmas. They have a lot. I never even considered any other name. Shows how old fashioned I am, I guess! I wonder if I'll have any more, ever.

Unknown said...

Ok, I'm pretty sure I am a long ways from being a grandma but I was too curious not to take the quiz! My results: Oma...because I am a bit of a hippy & unpredictable! This is hilarious!

You are a fantastic grandma and I just think Poppa & Mia fit you both to a T! Blessings....

Michelle said...

Apparently my grandma name will be "just nan." However, it doesn't seem to be a very good quiz as it thinks I love sports of any kind, whether I am a spectator or player...Yeah right.

But you are the best Mia ever. And we don't need a quiz or blog to tell us that! Love you and love the way you love my boys :)

Stephanie said...

I took me a while to figure out my grandma name too. I wanted something traditional but my daughters did NOT want me to be Maw Maw...that's what they call all their grandmas and they said two Maw Maw's in the family was enough. So I was gonna be "grandma " but it didn't stick. I ended up as "Honey" and I love it! When I hear my grand daughters say "I love you Honey", I just melt! My daughters mom -in -law changed her grandma name when our 1st grand daughter was about 6 months old! We have laughed so hard over our "name dilemma".

Stephanie said...

ps. I love "mia". It is lovely and I'm sure sounds like heaven when your grandbabies say it!

Cat said...

I have seen this page many times, but I can't seem to find the actual quiz people are referring to. I've been all up and down the page, many times, I can't find it. All i see are the cool names listed. Can someone help me out? How do I actually take the quiz?