Martha Stewart’s Granddaughter Will Call Her “Martha!” What Will Your Kids Call Your Parents?

Sally Farhat Kassab ON Mar 11, 2011 at 6:06PM

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Martha Stewart became a grandmother to baby girl Jude this week (via daughter Alexis' gestational carrier) -- but don't expect her to be called Grandma any time soon.

“Martha is going to be called, 'Martha,'" Alexis, 45, said on her radio show, Whatever with Alexis & Jennifer. "She seemed to have no problem with it. ... I was like, 'Do you really want to be 'Grandma'?' I don't like the term grandma!”

Sound strange? It’s part of a growing trend, says Lesley Bolton, author of The Complete Book of Baby Names. “The ‘grandmas’ and ‘grandpas’ and their old ways are being replaced by younger, hipper monikers,” Bolton says. Of course, that doesn’t mean all grandparents want to go by their first names (although Martha's not alone on this one), but it does leave them (and us) with the task of figuring out just what that new, hipper, anything-but-grandma name should be.

Current, trendy options (some of which also reflect grandma's heritage) according to Bolton: Mimi (French), Pop-Pop, Yaya and Yayo (Greek). We've also seen a proliferation of sweet, completely personal names originating from baby trying to say 'grandma' (Amma, Nema, Gammy).

Some other names to try out on your parents:

Gigi

Safta (Hebrew for grandma)

Papa

Grammy

Nana

Didi

Oma/Opa (German for grandma/grandpa)

Lola/Lolo (Filipino for grandma/grandpa)

Sugar

What did we miss?


 

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