Sunday, December 27, 2009

A rose by any other name

L to R (and mixing lineage): GGG-GM, GG-GM, G-GM, GM, Mother


No no no ... the naming of the child is their business. Nowt to do with me. I can tell you where they were up to by Christmas day, though. They will find out the sex of the child at the next ultrasound. Not sure when that is - coupla months. The information is there. Nothing they do or say will alter that. So get the information. That reduces the complexity by 50%.

Darren has ruled out any name starting with a vowel. Duh! But his prerogative, I suppose. Kirsten likes Bruno, but I guess B is the new vowel! With a surname of Lynn, Kirsten has ruled out Rita. Its going to be a long six months.

Now for the more important issue - the title of the grandparents. Darren's sister has two little girls, so his mother has laid claim to Nana. Not sure what his father is called. Kirsten's father is going to follow in HIS father's footsteps and assume the title Grandad. So help me out here. What title do YOU think is nice? Here are some to consider, feel free to toss others in.

I do not want to be called Julie or Jools. I want a title, a proper title. Here is my list (that I drew up Christmas night ... *blush*): Mama, YaYa, Mammie, Grannie, Gogga, Nana, Nan, Grandma, Nonna, Oma.

What do you reckon?

15 comments:

diane b said...

That is a great line up of grandmas. As for titles, I like Granny and Grandma. Granny is what I called my Grandmothers with the surname added to distinguish one from the other. My kids called my mum Grandma and Bill's mum Grossmütti. The males were Grandad except Bill's dad who was Grossvati, which always caused an internal giggle as it is short for Grossvater, which sounds like big farter. Now when it comes to baby names I hope you end up with a better one than our grandson to be....."Fox". But what can you say??? We just have to get used to it.

Julie said...

Oh yes indeed. I suspect Darren would declare F to be a vowel. I turned my nose up at Sunday, Rainbow and Pebble, et al.

How would you spell it Granny or Grannie?

Have you decided which one you will use? When is Fox due?

They could consider Foxx. Where on earth does it come from?

Martina said...

Oma would be the German version - but I am not sure how it sounds in English ...

I like Gogga - whatever that means. But Gogga sounds great to me.

Julie said...

Gogga is the title bestowed by a much younger cousin upon our joint grandmother, that is her second from the left, Sylvia Cole, my father's mother. I adored her.

I tried out the title "mammie" on a friend over the weekend and she immediately started singing the Al Jolson song, so that might have bitten the dust!!

I think my favourites are mammie, gogga or grannie. But I am totally open,

freefalling said...

Gogga.
Coz it's special to you.

My Mum went with the name that was special to her. She called her beloved Grandmother - Pippy - so that's what Mum became to her grandkids (more often than not, Pip).

Julie said...

I like that one of your mother's. The link to the past is so important.

A few years ago (like 5 or 6) I asked my cuz (Brett) if I could use gogga and he was tickled pink.

I will mull ont.

Joan Elizabeth said...

Interesting problem ... I had a Grandma and a Nana. My great-grandmother was Grannie (yes I would spell it with ie). My husband's family used Ma and Pa for grandparents.

I quite like the idea of a name with a historical link if you are happy to be a gogga for ever.

Julie said...

Interesting conversation to have. Thank you for all having sixpence worth.

I have come down to Gogga, Grannie or Ma.

In the row of portraits we have Ma Cole, Grandma Tonkin (aka Gogga), and Nana Kempsey.

I will take that list of three to K&D. Darren will shrug his shoulders, bite his nail and say "Your choice". Kirsten and I will chat about the shape of the word, how long it is, how hard it is to say, and any connotations that I may have overlooked. Because that is how she and I operate. Doesn't surprise you, eh?

bobcat said...

On a practical note, if you want to be kind to the kid, go with grannie. it makes finding xmas, birthday cards ect a dam site easer.

myletterstoemily said...

i think grannie is adorable and takes me back to
beverly hillbillies. not that was a feisty grandma!

Endless Waterfall said...

If you want to be one of the first words baby will say, then you should go for the obvious Ma or Oma :-)

diane b said...

The last comment is valid. What can a baby say easily? I called mine Granny, spelt with a y. Fox is in the baby name book. Says it can be either First name or surname and mention a few famous people called Fox. Bill wants to be called iPop, which probably makes me iMa.

Julie said...

Ooo that is new to me, where did he get iPop from? Maybe our generation of grandparents should have a title that acknowledges the era, something like e-ma!

diane b said...

Yeah! That is what Bill was thinking...iPod,iphone,iphoto, iMac, ibook, iPop.

Julie said...

Well, in that case, that is a terrific idea of his! I like it very much.

Although does Ma go with Pop? I reckon Ma goes with Pa. So, youse can be iPa and iMa or, and I am madly inventing here, how about iPop and iMop ... just a thought.