Mamaw and Papaw, Granny and Gramps

Kinship Terms!!! (one of my favorite topics!)

The vast number of Kinship terms that are used to title 'Grandparents' in all of the North American English dialects happens to be quite incredible. Growing up I used specific titles depending on how distant the person was related from me.

• Mamaw/Papaw - Grandmother/grandmother (mothers parents)
• Papaw*/mamaw + first name - Dads parents
• *for my dads father I reduplicated his name so it was 'Joejoe'
• Mamaw + Last name - Great-grand mother mothers side
• Grandma + Last name - Great-grand mother dads side
• Grandma + First name - meant someone that I was not blood related too (in one particular instance)

There are many a different names that children give to their grandparents and with that many names grandparents try to instill in their grandchildren. Some will come from the roots of grandfather/dad/mother/ma . Others will be completely unrelated and just be something interesting the child came up with.

Just a few examples: Nana, Grandma, Granny, Gran, Gram, Grammy, Papa, Grandpa, Granddad, Gramps.

Across languages there are different ways of forming kinship terms, so the crazy process of having many distinct and different words is not limited to the English language!

-Нафаня-