Monday, October 10, 2011

What's In a Grandparent Name?

Phyllis Reardon M.Ed
Life Coach


Well my first grandchild, baby granddaughter, is a week old and she is beautiful!

Over the past several months I wondered what name I would be called by my future grandchild.

I had to decide what name I wanted to go by...was I ready for that "Grand" prefix?? I wasn't sure. My thoughts went from will that age me? to by now in our society surely someone has created a better name than Grandma or Nanny. There must be another label that will be unique to me.

I thought of Nanny Phyllis, Nanny P. Nanna, Nanna P, but just couldn't decide. It was like going into a store and all the items on a rack looked alike. I wanted something different!

I did my market research, so to speak. I discussed with friends who were already grandparents and asked how they decided on a name. Some had put a lot of thought into the name, while others defaulted to Nanny or Grandma/pa depending on the other set of grandparents. No default for me, I wanted to create my own title.

I Googled, for sure I'd find what I was looking for there...to no avail, the same names were recycled. I even checked other cultures to see what they were using and for the most part they were all some form of Nanny. What to do? First major dilemma as a Grandparent!

Surprise, Surprise

I was very fortunate to be able to spend 5 days this week with new baby girl and surprise, surprise; as I took her from her Mom's arms the words just flowed from my mouth, " Come to Grandma."  I said it and it felt natural and real. So I am now Grandma, forever and a day and loving it.

What's in a Grandparents name?

It has to feel right for you. What have you choosen to be called? Love to hear your thoughts.


Phyllis Reardon
Life Coach......Grandma:)

phyllis@coachphyllis.com
www.coachphyllis.com

1 comment:

  1. The same thing happened to me! I had decided on Nana, but when my first grandchild was born, I just started calling myself Grannie. That is what my mother and grandmother were called, and it just felt right!

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