The extraordinary news that my son and daughter-in-law were expecting our first grandchild was overwhelming in all the most wonderful ways.

Would we have a granddaughter or a grandson? Would she or he look like our son or our daughter-in-law, or would the baby be the perfect blend of both…my son’s freckles and my daughter-in-law’s friendly smile? Would they need our help decorating the nursery? Should we redecorate a room at our house for when the baby visits? How would our 12-year-old dog react to a new little one crawling around? Should we baby-proof everything? Did we need a carseat for our car?

The questions kept us up at night, but the one question everyone asked us was “What’s the baby going to call you?”

I knew immediately…

My grandparents on my father’s side were called Granny Faye and Papaw Hillard. My mom’s parents were Grandma Sally and Grandpa Millie (short for Milio). My husband’s paternal grandparents were Mamaw and Papaw. His mom’s mother was called Grandmother…until our sons were born. Then she opted for GG, short for Great Grandmother.

My daughter-in-law had a Grammy and a Nanny, a Pop and a Grandpa.

When my sons were born, my mother-in-law chose Nona as her grandmother name. My dad went with Papaw, as his dad had done. My mom had a harder time. She considered Mimi, but then switched to Grammy at the last minute. When our first son started talking, he couldn’t pronounce his Gs or Rs. For a while he called my mom Dammy, then Gammy, then Grammy, then Gram. My mother signed her name on all his birthday cards with whichever pronunciation he was currently using.

Now that it was our turn to choose our grandparent names, my husband and I began paying close attention to the names of new grandparents we knew…parents of our children’s friends, colleagues, family members. The monikers ran the gamut from traditional (Grandma and Grandpa) to more modern: Lolli, Sugar, Captain, Glam-maw, G-Pa, and Lovey.

The options were endless, but I had known my grandmother name for years. I was just waiting on someone to use it.

My husband chose his name quickly – Poppy, in honor of his own father who died a year after my husband and I married…two years too soon to meet his first grandson. Poppy suits my husband to a tee; and by the way our 6-month-old granddaughter smothers him with hugs, his may be the first name she says.

My daughter-in-law’s dad chose pretty quickly also. He went with Papa. Her mom took a little longer to decide, but settled on the adorable name “Honey.” Papa said he’d have to adjust to having a baby calling his wife the same nickname he’d called her for years. We all laughed about that.

As for my name, I wanted it to reflect the 31 years I taught language arts, my love of reading, and writing, and words…all the stories and letters and poetry I hoped to share with my grandchild.

I chose…Grammar.