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Grandchildren may have many names for their grandparents, but most members of the older generation say anything the younger generation calls them is fine.

Date published: 9/11/2005

By CATHY DYSON

They answer when their little ones call--to whatever silly nicknames or muddled pronunciations their grandchildren come up with.

That's how Martha Embrey came to be known as "Hum Hum."

The Fredericksburg woman didn't know what she would be called when the next generation came along, but her first grandchild figured it out for her.

Embrey was shopping one day with her daughter, Sarah Bass, and Sarah's baby, Elizabeth, who was about 18 months old at the time. The women noticed Elizabeth was saying "this little sing-song kind of phrase," Bass said.

Later, they realized she was referring to her grandmother and calling her "Hum Hum."

The name stuck.

All three of Embrey's grandchildren, now grown, picked up on the name, as did many of her friends. "Hum Hum" is on her license plate.

Diane Bruemmer of Caroline County also got labeled with a name that's become part of her personality. Her oldest daughter was dating a man with two children, and the youngsters wanted to call Bruemmer "Grandma."

She thought it might offend the children's relatives and suggested they come up with another name, just for her.

The older girl said, "We'll call you 'Me-Maw,'" Bruemmer recalled.

Those children aren't part of the family anymore, but they started a tradition that remains. Bruemmer's five grandchildren call her "Me-Maw," as do the many young-sters she's watched.

"I've been married for 30 years, and I've had a baby in my home ever since," she said.

And she's not talking about her husband, Wayne.

Across the country, grandparents have almost as many reasons for the names they use as the nicknames themselves, said Katrina Hayday Wester. She founded Grandparents Magazine, an online product based in Wayne, Pa., that gets about 750,000 hits a month, Wester said.

When people discover they're going to be grandparents, they have a lot of questions, she said. Should they pick the name or let the children do it? Or the grandchildren?

Some don't want to feel old and would rather go by a younger-sounding nickname. Is that OK?

Others ask about blended families, and what stepgrandfathers and stepgrandmothers should be called, she said.

Today is Grandparents Day, a holiday established by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 to honor grandparents across the nation. September was chosen for the observation because it signifies the autumn years of life, according to the National Grandparents Day Web site. When grandparents decide what their children's children will call them, many turn to the heritage or culture they have inherited from their own grandparents. Listed below are some names in other languages. The word for "grandmother" is first, followed by the one for "grandfather." Flemish: Bomma/Bompa French: Grandmere/Grandpere French Canadian: Meme/Pepe German: Oma/Opa Greek: Yia Yia/Papu Hebrew: Savta/Saba Italian: Nonna/Nonno Polish: Busia/Dzia Dzia Russian: Babushka/Dedushka Spanish: Abuela/Abuelo

Date published: 9/11/2005