Day 124 - Who's That Walking Down the Street?

We went over to see my parents at the weekend, and I finally remembered to broach a subject with my dad that I'd been meaning to discuss for a while. The subject? 'What do you want to be called?' Obviously it's a long old time before anyone will actually need to use whatever this name is. Even after Jr puts in an appearance, s/he's not going to care for a bit.

I think we've probably got off very lightly all things considered. One side of the grandparental equation is very simple. K___'s parents are aready Grandpa and Grandma to K___'s sister's kids, and obviously it would be completely bizarre to expect them to change for ours. So, they're sorted.

I asked my mother what she wanted to be called a while back. She was dropping us off at our place after we'd been over at her's for some reason or other. To tell the truth, I thought she would be difficult. This is largely because my mother is quite difficult. I think she'd probably admit as much herself. I had it in my head that she was slightly resentful about how my grandmothers had been aportioned names. My Scottish grandmother is 'Granny' and my English grandmother is 'Nana'. I had half a notion that there'd been some sort of tension of Granny getting to the name first and Nana having to settle for second best. However, in light of the fact that my mother has asked to be a Nana too, perhaps I was just making all that up.

On to my father. We were out in the garden sipping on a Cranberry juice and for no good reason that I can think of, it suddenly popped into my head and out of my mouth. He said he didn't really mind and we could choose.

In terms of etymology, the names for grandparents are all quite similar: Grandpa and Grandma take their respective suffixes from the Latin 'Pater' and 'Mater' or Father and Mother. The 'grand' element indicates the person is from 'the generation before' and is first recorded in about the early 13th century in the Anglo-French expression 'graund dame' (and from which ultimately derives 'Granny'). Grandfather and Grandmother have their earliest occurence in 1424 and replaced an earlier Old English form of 'ealde' - as in 'ealdefæder'. Nana is a much younger term, circa mid-19th C and most likely derives from the non-familial 'Nanny', though the Greek word for aunt is 'nanna' and may have some bearing.

Now, he may be happy for us to choose, but I suspect Grandma, Granny or Nana might be a bridge too far. 'Grandfather' always conjurs up William Hartnell as the original Doctor Who with his granddaughter Susan. 'Grandad' just reminds me of Clive Dunn and that bloody song. Which kind of leaves Grandpa or his existing nickname. Thoughout our childhood and beyond, my dad was called after a character on a kids' TV programme. I still sometimes use it now. My mother pointed out that it might mean that other people wouldn't appreciate the familial bond between them. That shouldn't be a problem, but...

So I guess that leaves 'Grandpa'. I don't particularly have a problem with him having the same name as K___'s dad. My male grandparents were both Grandpas - though admittedly my maternal grandfather died before any of us were born. K___'s grandmothers were both 'Grandma', never caused any problems.

All the same, I wish he'd choose.