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Nanny or Nannie

(123 Posts)
Rosie21 Wed 16-Nov-16 10:00:16

I always said I wouldn't be called Granny or Grandma but I wanted to be 'Nannie'. Now comes the English Teacher in me, spelling. I have chosen to be 'Nannie'. My thinking that it would differentiate me from a Nanny (paid). Any thoughts on being a 'y' or 'ie'?
What other term of endearment do your grandchildren use? brew

BlueRaspberry Sun 09-Aug-20 14:36:59

I always called my grandmother, Nannie. That's the way she taught me to spell it. She told me that her mother always said that the 'ie' is for humans and the 'y' is for a goat. You know, as in a female goat. Saying this, my cousins always used to spell it with a 'y'. That's the way their parents taught them. It's all personal choice.
I personally prefer the 'ie'.

ginny Sat 26-Nov-16 07:25:18

I am Nama and then Nan as they get older.

Thinking about it, it's not so important what they call me but the fact that they do .

Menopaws Sat 26-Nov-16 07:25:08

Granna so a bit of both but will be pommiegranny to any oz grandchildren

Peaseblossom Sat 26-Nov-16 01:08:19

Yes I agree about Auntie/Aunty. I also say/write Auntie not Aunty. I see Auntie on cards and Nanny too. Don't know why it's Auntie and not Nannie but that seems to be the most common way of doing it.

Pigglywiggly Mon 21-Nov-16 09:36:18

I agree about Aunty/Auntie pollyperkins and I don't know why either.

pollyperkins Sun 20-Nov-16 18:53:57

Its funny how different people have different perceptions. I'm not at all keen on 'Nanny' - in my family we've aways had 'Grandmas' so that's what I wanted to be. It conjures up a lovely affectionate cosy image to me, not an old one. But my H didn't want to be Grandpa (what I would have chosen) as it sounded old to him, so he's settled for Grandad, which sounds much older to me! To be fair, he also thinks Grandma & Grandpa sound posh too (which it thy don't to me!!)
Luckily the other grandparents in each family have chosen different names so we are all happy!
Incidentally, I have always called myself Auntie when writing to nephews and nieces (and now great nephews and nieces) although they write back to 'Aunty' which looks wrong to me. Don't know why.

shandi6570 Sun 20-Nov-16 18:21:19

Hi Pigglywiggly, no that's not me I'm afraid, but it's nice to know I'm not alone. It sounds very posh as it hasn't got the 'y' or 'ie' feel to it, but when I think about it that is what I am a 'Grand' as in elder, 'Mum' and I enjoy it for that.

Pigglywiggly Sun 20-Nov-16 07:00:16

Sandi I know a Grandmum living in Bucks. That's not you, is it?

Shula Sat 19-Nov-16 10:21:36

My thinking is that the only time you have an 'ie' attached to nanny is in the plural 'nannies'. Thus ends the English lesson. ?

Lynnmartland Sat 19-Nov-16 09:04:11

I'm called ninny ,I choose that as my mother talks of her ninny In a very loving way ,and I some how feel connect to her I never knew my own grandmothers , and as my granddaughter has three set of grandparents I wanted a special bond also , and I'm very lucky as we do have that very special bond the others are nana but after saying that I would be anything what my beautiful girl wanted me to be x

shandi6570 Fri 18-Nov-16 16:29:21

Am I the only one who is called Grandmum, chosen by my DD and I love it.

Cath9 Fri 18-Nov-16 16:17:18

I realize many people who use the name Nannie as their grandmother.
But as I had a dear Nannie who looked after me when I was a baaby until 2yrs of age, this idea was a bit confusing when I first heard someone use this name for a grandmother and still is a bit confusing.

Cath

Roslin168 Fri 18-Nov-16 15:21:16

I'm Granny Linda to both my Grandsons. They call their other Granny, Nana. I much prefer mine.

Peaseblossom Fri 18-Nov-16 10:43:55

I'm nanny followed by my first name as is the other nanny. I thought nannie would only be used as a plural with an s on the end! I'd hate to be called granny or grandma as it sounds ancient. It conjures up pictures of an old lady with grey hair and a bun and round glasses sitting in a rocking chair with a blanket over her legs!

Falconbird Fri 18-Nov-16 07:47:31

I was nana at first but as the grandchildren grew older I changed it to nan because nana sounds a bit babyish when they talk about me at school. I love being nan. My mother was Gran and so was my mil.

patriciageegee Fri 18-Nov-16 06:56:18

I am proudly Nannee-my darling GD treading her own path on the "ie or y" debate lol!

Suzisue Thu 17-Nov-16 23:43:42

I'm Nanny Sue to my one set of grandchildren and Nanny to my other grandson (their cousin) I don't think Nanny sounds like a paid employee, it was what we called both our grandmothers when I was little. I always used to think being a Grandma made my mother in law seem a lot older than my Mom who was also referred to as Nan or Nanny. Each to their own though.

Ameliaw Thu 17-Nov-16 23:42:01

I'm Nanna Meals which is quite apt as my name's Amelia and I make the food!

dorsetpennt Thu 17-Nov-16 22:43:35

Nanny ? No thanks . My DGDs call me Gaggi and the other Granny, Granny. The name was made up by the oldest one when she was a toddler. To differentiate the two grannies . It's not uncommon the Duchess of Cornwall is a Gagga ( no jokes please)

mancgirl Thu 17-Nov-16 21:44:44

My mum was nana to her grand children. As my boys were growing up it got shortened to nan as they thought nana sounded a bit soft! I now have my first dgs and I am being nan from the off. My husband is grandpops which is already being shortened to pops, which is what the boys call him. He loves it!

yearofthetiger Thu 17-Nov-16 20:40:42

Mamgu. I prefer it to the North Walian Nain.

MTDancer Thu 17-Nov-16 18:51:55

I am grandma. "prettygrandma" features in my email address but some spell it "granma" without the "d"

hicaz46 Thu 17-Nov-16 18:48:10

I'm Nanny to my 5 grandchildren and my partner who has known all of them since birth is Nanny Carol. Other grandmothers are Nana and another Nanny. Everybody is happy and no one is confused.

Perdita33 Thu 17-Nov-16 18:43:50

I'm Gran - we've never used Nan or Nanny in our family.
I have a Swiss granchild - his Swiss Gran is Grossmumny, which is sweet.

nannieJoy Thu 17-Nov-16 18:15:50

My mom is Grandma so that was out even though this gets shortened to G'Ma or even just G'. So I'm Nannie too for the same reasons also the thought of being a Nanny goat didn't appeal. But most of the time I'm Nan. I don't much care what I'm called when I have two little arms hugging me tight smile