Family

What’s In A Grandparent Name?

Not always opting for the traditional, grandparents today are picking names based on family history, an affinity for the moniker, and in some cases, letting the grandkids choose one as they grow. We spoke with local grandparents about how their nicknames were born along with their grandkids.

Mimi and Opi

For Eric and Barbara Schmall, much thought went into picking the names their grandkids would call them. Eric says he went through all the usual choices but couldn’t arrive at a favorite. Then he happened to be reading a biography of a young girl in Germany in the 1930s, and she called her maternal grandfather Opi. That name made an impression. Opi is the diminutive form of Opa, a popular German term for grandfather. Eric felt Opi had a warmer, more casual feel that allowed family members to refer to their grandfather in a loving or playful way. “Perfect, I thought,” Eric says.

Barbara also found it difficult to choose from the more common grandparent names, partly because those names conjured up images of significantly older folk who were not 55 years young as she was. “My grandparents had seemed like old people to me — certainly, I was not their age,” Barbara says. She goes on to explain that another soon-to-be grandma friend felt the same way about traditional names, so they decided to pick their own. “A nurse friend of mine said her grandchildren called her Mimi, and I liked that name,” Barbara says. Studies show the name Mimi is on the rise with other names like Gran and Bibi, while the number one name choice these days is Nana. Barbara liked the sound of Mimi and knew it would be easy for a small child to say. “So, Mimi it was, and is, eleven grandchildren later,” Barbara says.

The only drawbacks Barbara and Eric found to choosing uncommon names are a lack of merchandise for personalized gifts and confusion regarding name origins. Barbara quickly discovered that “Mimi merchandise” was nonexistent, but she cherishes the handmade gifts her grandkids have given over the years. “Only the precious gifts handmade by my grandchildren have my Mimi name on them, but that is what makes these one-of-a-kind gifts so unique,” she says.

And for Eric: “When people heard the term I’d chosen, they thought I was paying some quirky tribute to Sheriff Andy Taylor’s son from The Andy Griffith Show.” This opened the door to talk about the real reason for the name, which Eric says he didn’t mind revealing, adding, “For two decades now, I have worn the name proudly.”

Howdy

When Mellanie Lori found out she was going to be a grandparent, she had a plan. “I was set on being called Granny,” Mellanie says. She felt it was a perfect representation of the Kentucky grandma she was about to become, and in fact, research shows that Granny is the most popular nickname for Kentucky grandmothers, along with Nana. However, popularity wasn’t the reason behind Mellanie’s choice — this name had a special meaning. “My dad’s mom was Granny, and I loved the fact I was going to have that title,”

Mellanie says. Then, like all things baby-related, her grandson, River, had different plans.

As River began saying small words and phrases, Mellanie and her daughter (River’s mom) noticed him using a frequent and slightly unusual word when he saw his Granny. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t Granny.

“As [River] was learning to talk, he’d babble something that sounded like ‘Howdy’ when I walked in,” Mellanie says. She and her daughter suspected River might be borrowing a word from one of his favorite pastimes since he was a newborn: playing peekaboo with his grandmother. However, instead of saying “Peekaboo!” for the big reveal, Mellanie used the phrase “Hiddy Baby!” She and her daughter first thought River was trying to greet her with a cute Southern-sounding “Hiddy” like in their game, but his “Howdy” was so specific to her, Mellanie eventually realized she was Howdy. That’s when all the T-shirts, doormats, and hand towels with “Howdy” arrived. And now, three years later, Mellanie says, “I can’t imagine being called anything else.”

Oma and Opa

Steve and Jan Greubbel knew the prefix “grand” was not to be in their future when their kids had kids. When their oldest daughter became pregnant, part of the discussion regarding a grandparent nickname centered around not using this “grand” title. “My mom was Grandmother and my dad was Granddaddy, and I told Steve that only my mom could be Grandmother and the same for my dad,” Jan says. Keeping her parents’ names specific to them was important. Plus, Steve’s grandparents all had “grand” in their nicknames, too. With so many traditional grandparent titles in their family, Jan and Steve sought other options.

Jan had first heard the German equivalent of grandmother and grandfather, Oma and Opa, from cousins born in Germany, and she liked it. With their German last name, both Jan and Steve agreed that following in Jan’s cousins’ footsteps was the way to go. “We’re still Oma and Opa, from the 8-year-old twins to the 22-yearold,” Steve says. Steve and Jan’s two daughters supported their name choice, and nothing has altered since their original decision. “And seven grands later, we love our titles of Oma and Opa,” Jan says.

By Tonilyn Hornung

Today's Transitions | Winter 2024-2025