The "So What Do Your Grandkids Call You?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Traveling with my Grandpap to Roots Sale to buy a few guinea pigs.  If this sounds familiar, I wrote a story a few years ago about the exact same thing.  

My Grandpap!

My story today tells why we call or grandparents the names that we call them.  I only had one grandfather and I called him Grandpap.  I called my only grandmother Nannan.  Why?  I have no idea.  Maybe she chose the name...or maybe it was easier for me to pronounce than Grandmother.  I was her oldest grandchild and those that followed also took my lead and caller her Nannan also.  At times I think back to when I was young and wonder what I might have called my other grandfather, who was killed in an accident at the local Post Office.  And...what I might have called my other grandmother who died close to the time when I began to speak.  Eventually I married and Carol and I had to decide what our children should call their grandmothers and grandfathers.  My mother and father were called Grandma and Grandpa by our children and they called Carol's father, PopPop.  Carol's mother had died before we had any children.  As our children became older, two of them married and eventually had children.  Our daughter married first and her first daughter managed to utter "Amah" the first time she was able to speak and visited with Carol and myself.  Shortly after she pronounced "Tampah" with a bit of coaching from the sidelines.  

My grandson Caden with his Tampah!

Naturally our other two grandchildren followed along and picked up on the Amah and Tampah names for Carol and myself.  Kind of neat, since I don't know anyone else named Tampah...or Amah either.  And, when they eventually needed a name to call my mother, they chose GG since it was easy to pronounce and actually meant Great-grandmother.  

My mother, GG, celebrating her birthday with her three great-grandchildren!

So, what did you call your grandparents.  I'll bet not many of you called them Grandmother and Grandfather.  Too hard for a small child to remember and pronounce.  Maybe Meemaw, Nana, Mom-Mom or even Grandma for your grandmother and maybe Granddad or Gramps for you grandfather.  What do you want to be called if you ever have grandchildren.  I'm sure everyone has their own favorites, but remember to make it easy for a young child just learning to speak for the first time.  No matter what name you pick, it probably has already been used at some time in the past.  Make it easy to say with a neat sound to it.  Your grandchildren will thank you for doing so.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.