It took my mom maybe two minutes after my pregnancy annoucement to start obessing over her Grandma name. She had waited a long time for this! It was a day she thought may never arrive. And now, she needed to officially claim her new grandma identity with a special moniker uniquely her own.

I told her I thought the kids were supposed to come up with grandma names. Like you could suggest something to them, and then they make it their own. I named my grandma Nanny because I couldn’t get the hang of Granny. And my mom called her grandma MaMa (pronounced Maw-Maw).

In the end, she decided she would become “Nana,” and that worked great at first. My son easily adopted the name and called my husband’s mom Grandma and my mom Nana.

And then Nanny came to visit.

When confronted with them both in the same room, Nana and Nanny sounded too similar. So that’s how my mom became “Big Nana.” What makes the name so funny is that my mom isn’t “big” in any sense- she’s 5’6″ and slim. But she is, in fact, taller than Nanny. So in true observant and honest toddler fashion, my son made up her unique grandma name based on observation and also started calling Nanny “Little Nana.”

It makes me giggle every time he mentions “Big Nana.” My Mom was So not into it at first. But just the other day she finally said if he wants to call her that then he can. He made it up and that makes it special.

I don’t know if it will last, but we’re just going to roll with it until he comes up with something else. And until then, Mom is all set with an awesome trucker or rapper name. It works well either way.