New Nicknames Move Grandparents Beyond Grandma and Grandpa
Baby boomers are rewriting what grandparents are called, and the shift is showing up in names like Pip, Grahhny and gaga instead of the usual grandma and grandpa. Ellen J. Klausner, a clinical psychologist who focuses on the psychological issues specific to older adults, says the change reflects more flexibility in how families now choose titles.
Ellen J. Klausner on self-image
Klausner said many baby boomers have a hard time reconciling their vibrant, vital and active selves with the traditional names. She added that some older adults think of themselves as organising and running marathons, not as the older relative in a rocking chair, and the traditional monikers do not fit that self-image.
She also pointed to increased longevity, which can leave great-grandparents still alive, and to the greater incidence of step and blended families. In those families, names have to do more work: they need to separate generations and extended relatives without forcing everyone into the same label.
McGivern, Harmon and Wise
Anne and Art McGivern chose Grandma and Grandpa for their nine grandkids. Anne McGivern said they loved their grandparents, who were called this, and that hearing the names can bring back the happiness those older relatives brought into the family.
Elsewhere in the same trend, Ellen Harmon asked to be called Granny with a slightly British accent, “Grahhny,” modelled after Mary’s term for Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey. She said Grandma sounded too boring to her.
Bob Wise wanted to be called grandpa, but when Savannah started to talk, it came out as Pip. Alison said that stuck, and now that is what the family calls him. The name did not come from a branding exercise; it came from a child’s first attempt at speech, which is how a lot of family language actually gets made.
Diane Levy and gaga
Diane Levy said Grandma sounded too formal and difficult to pronounce in the early years, so she asked for gaga instead. She also said gaga sounds good together with papa, her husband’s name, giving the pair a matching rhythm that the traditional titles never had.
Randi Mogil had already been called grandma by her children, but her grandson Kaiden called her gaga, and she said it works for her. That small shift captures the friction running through this trend: some families are keeping the familiar titles, while others are choosing names that feel younger, easier to say, or simply more their own.
For readers in families making the same decision, the practical answer is plain: there is no single script. The names that stick are the ones that fit the grandparent, the grandchild and the family structure already in place.
