The Most Popular Grandparent Name in Every State (2024)

FAQs

What do Southerners call their Grandma? ›

And if you live in the south, there's a good chance you call your grandmother Mamaw or Mawmaw—the most popular nickname in 7 states mostly in the south and along the Appalachians. Texas is the lone holdout for Mimi while folks in the Northeast prefer Grammie or Nana.

Grammies are likely to live in places like Vermont and Maine; Pop-Pops seem to live in states like Maryland and New Jersey; Grannies take the day in Alabama; Pawpaws reside in the likes of Louisiana and West Virginia.

Southerners don't seem to need as much variety in their grandfather names. Pawpaw or PawPaw and Papa or PaPa are the most common choices, as well as the classic Grandpa or Grandpaw.

Ireland (Gaelic)

While maimeó anddaideó are the words used to address a grandmother or grandfather, there are a few different words for grandparents in Irish. For example, there are máthair chríona, which translates to “wise mother,” and athair críonna which translates to “wise father.”

Ireland: Seanmháthair is Irish for grandmother, but Irish children are much more likely to use Maimeó or Móraí.

“Unci” (unh-chee) and “Gaka” (gah-gah) are Lakota terms for grandmother and grandfa- ther respectively. These terms are generally used as terms of affection in the traditional Lakota families, while those Lakota families who are more acculturated use the more common terms, “grandma and grandpa”.

Names for Hispanic Grandparents

Grandfathers are called the formal Abuelo or the informal Abuelito. Grandmothers are called Abuela or Abuelita. Shortened forms such as Lito and Lita or Tito and Tita are common.

Grandparents are translated as Großeltern, so you would say Großeltern mütterlicherseits for maternal grandparents and Großeltern väterlicherseits for paternal grandparents.

Some of the names cited for grandmothers include Boo, Mimi and Nanan. For grandfathers such terms of endearment include Pa, Papa and Captain. People living in Cardiff and Plymouth are more likely to use a unique name for their grandfather and those in Nottingham, London and Leicester likewise for their grandmother.

And if you live in the south, there's a good chance you call your grandmother Mamaw or Mawmaw—the most popular nickname in 7 states mostly in the south and along the Appalachians. Texas is the lone holdout for Mimi while folks in the Northeast prefer Grammie or Nana.

What do Cherokee people call their grandma? ›

Native American grandmothers hold a near and dear place in our hearts, here are 8 ways my Tota is the best. In Mohawk, it's Tota, In Diné it's amá sání or análí asdz???? and in Cherokee it's Elisi or Enisi. The special word we are referring to is one we all love, Grandmother.

France. The lyrical language of France is apparent in the way children refer to their grandparents, “grand-mère” is grandma, and “grand-père” is grandpa. “Mamie” has become a popular modern update for grandmother.

-Scottish: In Scottish Gaelic, the word for grandpa is “Seanair,” but other commonly used Scottish grandfather names include “Grandad” and “Grandpa.”

A survey by gurgle.com, a website for new parents, put Nain fourth for grans, and Taid seventh in the male list. But while the survey claims Nain and Taid are unusual, these Welsh words for grandmother and grandfather are used in much of Wales.

Grandparents and ancestors are referred to with the same word in Hawaiian: kupuna. The words wahine (woman) or kāne (man) are added after it to distinguish between one's grandmother, kupuna wahine, or grandfather, kupuna kāne. The word tūtū is also used to refer to a grandparent, specifically a grandma.

Grandparents, or besteforeldre in Norwegian, can be called bestemor (grandmother) or bestefar (grandfather).

A paternal grandfather is called zufu (祖父) and a paternal grandmother is called zumu (祖母) in Mandarin, or a-gong (阿公) and a-ma (阿嬤) respectively in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese). Maternal grandparents are commonly referred to as wai zufu (外祖父) and wai zumu (外祖母) in Mandarin.

-Scottish: In Scottish Gaelic, the word for grandma is “Seanmhair,” which means good mother. But other commonly used Scottish grandmother names include “Nana,” “Nanna,” “Mhamó” and “Mamó.”

GiGi - Gigi is easy to pronounce and a much more modern alternative to Grandma that many younger grandmothers may prefer to be called.

In the Zulu language, grandmothers are called gogo, or ugogo. In Swahili it's bibi, in Sudanese, nini, and in Somali, ayeeyo. In the Igbo language of Nigeria, the word is nne nne.

What is an Italian grandmother? ›

The word for grandmother in Italian is nonna whereas the plural is nonne. IPA: /ˈnɔn.na/ Similar to English which has multiple terms for grandmother including grandma, granny, gran and so on, you may also come across some dialectal variations on nonna depending on where you live.

Our Italian word of the day is nonna, or la nonna, which, as many of you know, means grandmother. When you are addressing your grandmother, in Italian the word is not abbreviated or made into a nickname as it often is in English—grandma or granny or nana. In Italian nonna is nonna, and that suffices.

abuelo [ masculine ] yayo [ masculine ] (Translation of grandpa from the GLOBAL English-Spanish Dictionary © 2020 K Dictionaries Ltd)

Grandparents, or bedsteforældre in Danish, can be called bedstemor (grandmother) or bedstefar (grandfather), but it's probably more common to hear the slightly shorter, but more specific, combination of mor (mother) and far (father) used in four different variations, a unique one for each grandparent.

In Germany, our grandmothers are Oma and grandfathers Opa. Italians call theirs Nonna and Nonno respectively. For France, your grandmother is your Grandmére or Mémé and your grandfather Grandpére or Pépé. In Greece, our grandparents are Yaya and Pappoús.

to say "Grandmother."

pokni - grandmother - School of Choctaw Language.

A: "Grandmother" in Shawnee is Nokomtha (pronounced no-kome-thah), if you are addressing her. Have a good day!

Traditional Grandparent Names

The most common pairings are Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Papa, and their variations. A few alternatives for Grandma include Grammy, Gamma, G-Ma, Granny, and Nanna. Grandfather may be shortened to Grampa, Gramps, G-Pa, Poppy or Pops.

Ireland (Gaelic)

While maimeó anddaideó are the words used to address a grandmother or grandfather, there are a few different words for grandparents in Irish. For example, there are máthair chríona, which translates to “wise mother,” and athair críonna which translates to “wise father.”

What do kids call their grandpa? ›

The traditional Grandma, Grandpa and Nanna and Poppa are still a popular name choice for grandparents.

To be sure, many still opt for the traditional Grandma and Grandpa (and their close cousins, Grammy, Gramsie, Nana, or Grampy, Papa, Poppy, Pop Pop, and so on).

Poland: Babcia, Babciu, Babunia, Babula, and Babusia are all variations of Polish names for grandmother.

Click here. According to Name Nerd, the most popular nicknames for grandparents are Bubbe, Nana, Grandma, Granny, Gran, Gram, Grammy, Papa, Grandpa, Granda, Granddad, Gramps. Grandparent names come a very wide array. Many times, the names literally come from the mouth's of babes and they stick.

In comparison Granny is the most adored name for Scottish grandmothers with 45% of people in Edinburgh using it and 31% in Glasgow. Less than 10% of Scots use the name Nanny. For grandfathers the most popular name nationwide by far is Grandad (68%) - with over two thirds using this name.

The most common way to say grandpa or grandfather in Italian is nonno (plural: nonni which can mean either grandpas or grandparents). Your paternal grandfather is your nonno paterno whereas your maternal grandfather is your nonno materno.