<p>My mother is Nana and my MIL is Nannie. She prefers Nan and signs cards that way but they’ve always called her Nannie. My father asked from the very beginning to be called by his first name and that’s what has stuck.</p>
<p>My aunt is an example of pronunciation gone bad. Her grandkids call her “Gron.”</p>
<p>My oldest cousin called my grandmother “Mawie” (pronounced moy), and it stuck. Every cousin in the family (born over a 30 year period) used it…</p>
<p>We called our grandparents by nicknames of their first names. That’s what they wanted, and it was endearing. My mother’s grandchildren call her by one of her childhood nicknames. It has stuck so well that even we adult kids call her that much of the time! She picked it out many years ago when she had her first grandchild.</p>
<p>My H’s grandson has seven grandparents, so the solution is to call all of us Grandma ____ and Grandpa _____. It’s a lot easier, and as a step-grandmother I appreciate being treated like a “real” grandmother.</p>
<p>A friend’s grandchildren call her and her husband “GM” and “GP,” which I think is cute.</p>
<p>My grandmother was Bacci (polish)</p>
<p>I always called my grandparents “Mamaw” and “Papaw”, as an older cousin did (who got it from HIS older cousin…). I think this is a southern/midwestern influence. My children use the traditional “Grandma” and “Grandpa”, but that “d” sort of disappears in the pronunciation. If both sets of grandparents are present they will include the first name if there is a need to distinguish which one they are speaking to (or of).</p>
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My mother tried to do this. The very imposing, clan-matriarch grandmother of a friend of hers was called by a nickname by all of her grandchildren and childen-in-law. My mother always thought it was very classy. She worked for months to come up with the perfect name. And everyone just guffawed at it. It never stuck at all.</p>
<p>It may have been that her timing was off. Maybe it would have worked if she sprang it in connection with the birth of our first child. But she tried to introduce it when we got married, and my wife wasn’t having any of calling her mother-in-law by a cute nickname.</p>
<p>I love the variety here in this site. So am adding: “Savta” (female) and “Saba” (male) which is modern Hebrew for my Canadian BIL and SIL whose grandkids are growing up as Israelis now.</p>