Question for Americans. Currently writing a short story set in about 1960 about a teenager living with her grandparents. What would such a girl, born to an affluent Ohio family in the 1940s, call her grandparents? Grandma and Grandpa? Or something grander? (For the record, I was once an American girl born in the 1940s but my grandparents predeceased me.)
Grandma and Grandpa were the most common ways of addressing grandparents when I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s in Michigan. Pronounced Gramma and Grampa ...the 'd' was silent.
A lot of it depends on nationality. My grandparents were first generation Italian Americans, so it was always Nonna and Poppa growing up (1980s). Gram and Gramps was also popular. German Americans would use Oma and Opa... I still hear that one a lot. Grandpa and Poppa were kind of interchangeable, but every Italian grandmother is called Nonna. There were no exceptions to this that I can remember.
Yeah, grandma and grandpa, pronounced grammaw and grammpaw. I knew somebody who called his grandma Mammaw, but I've never heard anybody else say that. I also never heard his say anything about his grandfather, but I suppose that would be pappaw. But their family was extremely lower class.
Addressed them as Gradma and Grandpa. Referred to them as Grandma and Grandpa Smith or Jones to differentiate between mother's parents and father's.
Never knew my maternal grandparents. My paternals, oddly, I called by their first names. My dad was the first child of parents who were both on their second marriage, with kids already in tow, both sides. My dad grew up hearing those kids refer to his mom and dad by their first names. I followed suit. I realize this post is pretty useless... sorry.
I called my maternal grandma "Grandma [first name]" and my maternal grandpa as just "Grandpa" I called my paternal grand parents "Grandma and Grandpa [last name]" Although my maternal grandma didnt like this at all. she just wanted us to call her "Grandma"..... so we called her that to her face, but to others, we specified WHICH grandma we were talking about, and we'd revert back to calling her "Grandma [first name]"
Maternal grandparents were Poppa and Nana. Paternal grandparents were Grandma and Grandpa. I've seen Opa and Oma used by pals. I have seen "Nonna" written down on a menu in an Italian restaurant - "Nonna's Meatballs" etc.
Oh! I'd like to add that my mom called her grandparents "Grandpap" and "Granny" My dad called his grandmother "Granny" (he doesnt talk about his grandfathers, so i dont know what he called them)
My mom's parents were: Granma and Granpa My dad's parents were: Nanny and Pa My parents are (to my niece): Grandma (my mom's name, it starts with a g and my brother wanted to call her G-Unit, but that offended her, so we don't call her that to her face); and Grandma (my stepmom's name) and Papa. My sister in-law's parents are: Nana and Bump. I'm Aunt Carl and my sister is Aunt Steve. Neither of which are our names. Mine, almost, but her's not even close.
I'm a few years younger than the teenager you're writing, and I and my siblings directly addressed our grandparents as "Grandma" and "Grandpa." When we talked about them to our parents or each other, they were "Grandpa Smith, Grandma Smith," and "Grandma Jones, Grandpa Jones." (Made up names.) Similar to what @jannert said, the actual pronunciation was more like "Gran'ma" and "Gran'pa." But that's the American Midwest for you. EDIT: Just scrolled up and saw this is almost exactly what @Earp said, down to the fake names. So there you go.
I used to call them by their first name (patrilinial grandparents) because I didn't know them. My cousins called them Pops and Gran.
My paternal grandfather was over 6 feet tall, and my grandmother was probably in the mid 5 foot range but quite a "big-boned" woman. On the other hand, by maternal grandmother was perhaps technically a "little person," although her height had more to do with early nutrition than any genetic abnormality. She was 4 foot 9 or 10, and my grandfather was not too far over 5 feet tall. Thus I had "Big Grampa" and "Big Gramma" on my dad's side and "Little Grampa" and "Little Gramma" on my mom's. It all lined up in my childhood mind, as my mom is 5 foot 1 and my dad is around 5 foot 10. I just realized our male line has been shrinking for three generations. I'm about 5 foot 9.
Entirely unrelated, but I'm the tallest male ever on my dad's side at 5 foot 9... by like three inches. I'm a veritable giant!
The English ones are and were Nanny and Granddad, respectively. The Italians were Nona and Nonino. My parents were born in the 50s, and those terms came from them. Nothing from the u.s.a though, which means this probably won't be helpful for you.
This reminds me that on reflection my last post was wrong. It wasn't Gran and Grandad, it was Nanna (not Nanny) and Grandad.
As a South Asian it was always Nana (Maternal Grandfather), Nani (Maternal Grandmother), Dada (Paternal Grandfather) and Dadi (Paternal Grandmother)