Nana and Peepaw as penguins this past Halloween
A very close friend of mine, Tom, became a first-time uncle several years back. Of course, the chain of familial ties would then make his parents first-time grandparents. It would not be an understatement to say they were ECSTATIC to become grandparents. When this first grandchild was old enough to utter her first few words, she christened her grandfather, “Peepaw”. This distinguished man, having graduated from the Citadel, retiring after decades of service at GE as an engineer, and having raised 4 children with his wonderful wife, is now known by family and close friends as “Peepaw”! We have no idea how his adoring granddaughter came up with Peepaw, but it stuck. Peepaw’s wife is called, “Nana”…a name that I just love. I told her I’d always wished for a “Nana” of my own, and of course, she told me she would be mine…which so touched me that I teared up, so I got a big, loving hug from her…of course!…that’s what Nanas do!! 🙂
With her adoption of Henry Mantu, Carol, another close friend, made her parents into grandparents four times over. Henry Mantu’s grandparents are called, “Oma” and “Opa” (the German version of grandma and grandpa).
I don’t know, it seems like no matter what new name I hear, they all sound so endearing and special…I’m so charmed by them…probably because there’s just something so special about grandparents.
My Mom’s Parents started out as Granddad and Grandma, but around the time I was 8 my “grandma” was flipping through old photo albums with us, of her grandparents. Her “gram” meant the world to her. My mom pulled us aside one night and said, “Girls, I think ‘grandma’ would really appreciate it if you called her ‘gram’ “. And so that was the fateful night when ‘grandma’ became “gram”. We had to rename “granddad” if we renamed “grandma and so fittingly, ‘grandad’ became “gramps” – They have been called that ever since- Gramps and Gram.
I grew up in a small, Polish, mill town in Western Massachusetts. We endearingly called my Polish grandmother “bab-chi” (or “babcia”), and my Polish grandfather “ja-ju” (or “dziadzio”). We called my great grandmother “bab-ka”. We called our Italian grandma (a few towns over) “nona” and our French grandfather “grandpa” (not sure how the French translation got dropped). Isn’t being a multi-heritage American kuhl?!?!
By the way, I’ve met Nana and Pee-paw – and these are some of the coolest grandparents a kid could ask for.
Peepaw – that’s so cute!
The tagalog word for grandma is “Lola” and for grandpa it’s “Lolo.” When my grandparents were alive, I used to call either one of them “Lol” for short (before “LOL” became popular net lingo). But it was fitting that I called them “Lol” because I always made them laugh out loud. I don’t have any living grandparents anymore. I sure miss them.