Q. My elder son and his wife are expecting their
first baby and I would appreciate some suggestions on suitable names for grandparents. There can only be one Granny, and as the grandmother on the father’s side I am happy to take second billing, but am unsure what to suggest. Are Christian names now the norm?
C.H., London SW4 A. Christian names are not used in top households. There is no protocol which decrees that both grandmothers cannot be addressed as ‘Granny’ and both grandfathers as ‘Grandpa’ or ‘Grandpapa’. There is only a need to differentiate when referring to a grandparent in their absence, or indeed in their collective presence. To this end, separate grandparents are usually known as ‘Granny Yorkshire’ or ‘Granny London’ or better, they can be given the codicil of a nickname devised by the infant itself, e.g. ‘Granny glasses’ or ‘Grandpa quadbike’.
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