{"id":68,"date":"2010-04-06T18:09:06","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T02:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/streamdoubletrouble.wordpress.com\/?p=68"},"modified":"2010-04-06T18:09:06","modified_gmt":"2010-04-07T02:09:06","slug":"are-you-my-grandmother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/are-you-my-grandmother\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You My (grand)Mother?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I never had much difficulty identifying my grandparents. I only had one grandfather. He lived in Southern California, so he was Grandpa. His wife, my mother\u2019s mother, is Grandma. My father\u2019s mother still lives in Italy; she is Nonna.<\/p>\n

My mother recently decided she wasn\u2019t a fan of how \u201cGrandma Janet\u201d sounded. So we begin round two of the name game.<\/p>\n

When she was a tyke, children did not use adults\u2019 first names. So it was Grandma and Grandpa Last Name. But when I offered to have the twins call my mom Grandma Cosaro, she did not waste a single portion of her next breath declining. Apparently that conjures an image of an elderly lady knitting a bonnet as she rocks in a chair on a porch. My mother does not knit. Nor does that description seem to fit the demeanor of the SoCal Assistant Superintendent.<\/p>\n

I did a bit of research on what our options are regarding the typical names. The Internet tells me there is also a trend toward inventing something that sounds cooler than traditional names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Traditional Names<\/strong><\/td>\nModern Names<\/strong><\/td>\nTranslated Names<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Big Mom<\/td>\nBeBe<\/td>\nChinese: NaiNai<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gram<\/td>\nBella<\/td>\nFilipino: Lola<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gramma<\/td>\nGiGi<\/td>\nFlemish: Bomma<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grammy<\/td>\nG-Ma<\/td>\nFrench: Grandmere<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grams<\/td>\nG-Mom<\/td>\nFrench Canadian: Meme<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grandma<\/td>\nHoney<\/td>\nGerman: Oma<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grandmama<\/td>\nLovey<\/td>\nGreek: YaYa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grandmom<\/td>\nMayMay<\/td>\nHawaiian: Tutu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grandmother<\/td>\nMia<\/td>\nHebrew: Savta<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grannie<\/td>\nMim<\/td>\nItalian: Nonna<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ma or Maw<\/td>\nMimi<\/td>\nIrish: Maime\u00f3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mamo<\/td>\nNina<\/td>\nJapanese: Oba-chan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MawMaw<\/td>\n<\/td>\nKorean: Halmoni<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mema<\/td>\n<\/td>\nPolish: Busia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Memaw<\/td>\n<\/td>\nPortuguese: VoVo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mom-Mom<\/td>\n<\/td>\nRussian: Babushka<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nana<\/td>\n<\/td>\nSpanish: Abuela<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nYiddish: Bube<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Given my heritage, it seems a simple solution would be to call my mother Nonna and my dad Nonno. My dad may become Nonno Tavo, but we haven\u2019t polled him on his chosen name yet. (He\u2019s still busy trying to convince us the twins will be Gustavo 1 and Gustavo 2.) Nonna has been vetoed due to the Strega Nonna correlation (see more about this in the future post on children\u2019s books I\u2019ve promised).<\/p>\n

What do your children call their grandparents? What did you call yours? Any preferences Meemaws?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I never had much difficulty identifying my grandparents. I only had one grandfather. He lived in Southern California, so he was Grandpa. His wife, my mother\u2019s mother, is Grandma. My father\u2019s mother still lives in Italy; she is Nonna. My … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[26,27],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Sbzi-16","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2143,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/a-grateful-granddaughter\/","url_meta":{"origin":68,"position":0},"title":"A Grateful Granddaughter","date":"January 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Winifred Anne Welker Ahern July 27, 1925 \u2013 January 22, 2012 As the Year of the Dragon commences, Grandma Winnie has left our world \u2013 turning control of our family to her own Dragon daughter. It is winter. January. And it\u2019s finally started raining in California. Clich\u00e9, I know. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angels"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/it%e2%80%99s-a-jungle-out-there\/","url_meta":{"origin":68,"position":1},"title":"It\u2019s a Jungle Out There","date":"April 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Easter! To celebrate spring and new life, we went shopping. Seven hours, 100 miles up, down and across the Bay Area. There are approximately 894 gajillion options\/suggestions on stuff babies need. I think we looked at all of them. 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