What is it with the names Grandma and Grandpa that make us feel so old? While I am not a grandmother yet, I remember when my daughter was born I told my mother we would call her Nonna or Nonina like her mother. My mother’s response, “Absolutely not!” To my mother being called, “Nonna” was the equivalent of being called, “Grandma” – way, way too old sounding.

I had just given birth to my daughter and it was hard enough deciding on a name for her and now I had my mother who wasn’t sure “what” she wanted to be called?!

When I calmed down, I admit I thought…”Well, we can’t call her “Nonina,” because that is what we call her mother. We can’t call her “Nonna,” because that sounded so terribly boring and formal and my mother had a youthful personality. As I thought about how cute “Nonina” sounded suddenly the name “Noni” popped in my mind.  YES, that was it, my mom would be called, “Noni!” And luckily my mother agreed that “Noni” was acceptable.”

Here is the frustrating part. While I was teaching my daughters to call my mother “NON-knee,” my younger brother was teaching his children to call my mother “NO-knee.” To me that sounded awful… like my mom had “no knee.” I was too far away to correct this.

I thought about this yesterday as I was reading a WSJ article on this very topic called, “PopPop or Skipper? The Grandparent Name Dilemma.” It was an amusing article. There is a trend for Grandparents wanting to “choose” their name. Grandparents.com has an online name generator, so you can have fun seeing what they come up with. My generated name was “Mama Monicadee.” This name reminds me of my daughter who LOVED Manga, the Japanese comics, I could be a super ninja grandma – I like it!

Don’t they say history repeats itself and that, in the end, we act like our parents?

Well, for sure I don’t want to be called, “NO-knee,” but I’m liking the “Mama Monicadee” name…

Stay tuned!