I found the most popular nicknames for a grandmother

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When I became a new grandma, I wanted to look up nicknames for a grandmother that would reflect me, my lifestyle and was easy for a child to say.

Even before my grandson was born in 2018, I wanted to decide on a nickname for myself and grab it before the other Grandma would! 🙂

I’m French Canadian so the most popular one is Grand-mère (Grandmother in English) but that was way too formal for me.

Plus I’m not your typical grandmother, I’m a geek Grandma (I love everything digital, internet, etc.) and I hate cooking and still very active, at least mentally.

I went in search of “nicknames for Grandma” that would sound perfect in French or English. It also needed to be short.

A Google search brought back many lists with 50 or 100+ of nicknames in different languages.

I browsed Facebook groups where other grandmothers were also looking for one.

I asked my friends and my sister-in-law what do their grandkids call them.

And I compiled this list of my favorite and cute Grandma nicknames I could find.

As for myself, I love the one I picked “Mamie”. Now it remains to be seen if my grandsons (another one is due to come into this world in March, 2020) will use it. 🙂

If a grandfather is in the picture, I also listed at the bottom some good ones I found.

Popular Nicknames for a Grandmother

Let’s not forget the Grandfathers

Don’t know about you but when I asked my husband what should my grandson call him, his immediate answer was “grandpapa” of course, duh!

Men usually don’t fuss over this kind of details.  So I wasn’t surprised.  

As I was googling nicknames for grandfathers, I had to laugh when I found “Grumpy” – I think that one might fit well for my husband.  (Oops! he’s going to read this post and might object! LOL)

Popular Nicknames for Grandfathers

There are many more nicknames in different languages and different cultures that you can find online.  Some lists featured more than 100 alternative names for grandmothers and grandfathers.  

I thought it might be helpful to narrow the lists down to make it easier to choose.  Too many choices might make it harder to pick one.

Even after doing all this research, the grandkids might be the ones deciding on your nickname. 

Maybe they’ll struggle to say Grandad and it will sound more like Ganda.   Same for Grandma, might come out as Ganma.  

My brother and sister-in-law also told me that their nicknames changed over the years as the grandkids got older.  

No matter what my grandsons call me, being a grandmother is so much more than I expected.  It’s hard to explain but it’s a different experience than being a mother and I cherish both of these life stages. 

If in your family, you are using ones that are not listed, I would love for you to tell us in the comments below.