The span in age between me and my oldest sister, Ofie, is about fifteen years. Which means she was married and had her first child, Annette, by the time I was nine. Which means that at that point in my young life, my mother, Luz, became a grandmother.
“La Abuela!” She had waited so long to finally hear those words. She could barely wait until Annette started talking!
Ah, but let me tell you about Annette – she was a precocious and clever and creative child, who, as soon as she could talk and found out that her grandmother’s name was Luz Aurora started calling her Luza. And that name has stuck.
Luza. That’s how she even introduces herself now. My sisters and I call her Luza. She is Luza to all the other fifteen grandchildren and the seven great-grands. Luza is what all her friends call her now.
Ironically, there is still one grandchild who calls her Abuela.
You guessed it.
Annette, her very first grandchild, the one who baptized her as Luza, is now the only one who calls her Abuela. Go figure!
I secretly suspect that because she was the first grand, and the one who gave her that special nickname, my mom loves her the most. But don’t tell the rest of them.
Still clever and creative, smart and generous.
She’s a wonderful daughter, granddaughter, niece, and friend.
So, tell me: What do you call your abuela?
Marta,Another lovely post. My father grew up in a very large Cuban family in Matanzas. He and all his cousins absolutely loved their grandmother Nena. Everyone called her “bola Nena.” She was said to love the nickname, and my dad said it fit her well because she was as round as a ball! LOL
Carinos,
Maria Eugenia
Felicidades Prima!
I loved this story, so I had to share my own:Being the first, and favorite, grand, I had the pleasure of naming my grandfather. As legend goes, my mom was teaching me to say abuelo, but all that I could get out was the first part, “Abu.” My grandfather thus became Abu (accent on the ‘u’) not only to me and all of my cousins, but everybody who has met him since.
maria eugenia & Marta from NJ -The nickname thing is one of those idiosyncratic Cuban things that I just LOVE.
Besos,
Marta, Martica, Martona, Martilla, Marti, ad infinitum…
read about my own nickname identity crisis here:
https://www.mybigfatcubanfamily.com/my_big_fat_cuban_family/2007/09/when-i-was-born.html
Marta from NJ,Did you know Abu means “father” in certain forms of Arabic?
The name is more fitting than you thought! 🙂
Marta:I’m Italian so this doesn’t apply, but my daughter calls her Peruvian grandmother “Abuela.” My grandmom was “Nonna.” 🙂
You are so lucky to have a mom who is so vibrant!
Annette is so pretty! Happy birthday to her!
Happy Birthday Annette!!! I never knew you were the one who came up with Luza…nice one.
I will list the following endearments for the Abuelas in my family:Yeya (Yeyita when the situation gets critical)
Tati
Aba
Mima
Mami
Abuela (pronounced AWElllaaa)
Abela
I love them all because they represent the most wonderful thing we have in our lives, our Cuban Moms.
God bless them all!
xoxo
Mica
Feliz cumpleanos, Annette, from the other Annette!
dominican here but I was also a first grandchild and christened my paternal grandfather “Abo” when I couldn’t get the whole abuelo out. That was it. From then on he was Abo to the grandkids, the adults and it wasn’t until I was older that I realized Abo wasn’t his real name.My own grandma we call Abuela and my hubby (american from the south) had a granny so my kids have an Abuela AND a Granny.
Mine is Mami Nena. 🙂
En España, muchos la llamamos “Bueli” de abuelita.Un besito!
http://janakitchen.blogspot.com
Yaya.
My daughter, the first grandchild, called my mother Ema (Eeeema) and my Cuban father, Paga. The name was appropriate because he did spend a lot of money on her. Every grandchild since used those same names. His headstone has it too…along with “DeeDee” which is what we children called him. I miss him so much. —S. Diaz
Alfonso Diaz
DeeDee
Paga
1919-2003
In my home was for abueloni my grand mama y for my grand father, papi viejo ,
My daughter (first grandchild) would call my mom Abi, my MIL Aba and my FIL Abo. However, my MIL insisted on being called Abuela!!! She got her wish! My mom is still Abi…because she IS special. ☺️❤️
I tried to have my daughter (first grandchild) call my mother “abuelita”. Well, she became Bita and all eight grandchildren called her that, when I became a grandma I wanted to be called “abuela”. My oldest granddaughter started calling me Beba and it has stuck. Everyone in the family calls me Beba. My husband gets called Papa.
My older sister was the first of all the grandchildren so what she said, stuck!
Mom’s side: Abita and Ito (she couldnt say abuelita or abuelito)
Dad’s side: Abella and Abello (which coincidentally was my grandmothers maiden name…confusing)
Miss all 4 of them a ton!!!
I left Cuba as an infant, and thus never knew my grandparents, and never will. I have only seen them in very old pictures. I have a sadness that will be with me for my whole life……..😩
I called my maternal grandparents Abuela and Abuelo, while others called them Yeya/ Yeyo or Abuela Gloria y Abuelo Tello.
My paternal grandparents (who I never met because they were in Cuba) were Mamamima and Papú to all their grandkids as far as I know. I’m not sure how they got those nicknames, and I have never heard of people with those same nicknames.
Leave it to Cubans to come up with some great nick names for grandparents. I was the first grandchild, and called her Mamita. I don’t remember my grandfather, he passed away when I was 3, I’m the only one who ever met him. Thank God for pictures. My brother would call her that, but then somehow all the grandkids started calling her Tata. Now my Mom wants to be called Mamita instead of abuela or Grandma. She’s very vain and doesn’t want to be called something that represents old.! She’ll never change.
I just love all your stories…and your family! My daughter was my mom’s youngest grandchild at the time. (She’s 26 now but “that’s not important right now”. Lol!) Anyway, trying to say “abuelita” came out as “abuita” (which she pronounced “aweeta” and when she learned how to write, she spelled as “aweta”.) The funny thing was that after she ‘named’ my mom, all the other grandchildren whose ages spanned from 12 to 17 and who had been calling her “abuela” all their lives started calling her “aweta” too. And it continued when my son was born and when all the other great grand children came, they all called her, and still call her, “aweta”. Funny side note: My daughter’s fiancee calls her “aweta”, too!
I guess replying 4 years from the last reply and 13 years from the first reply to this post is acceptable since I have used the excuse of being chronically late for life on my Hispanic roots.
My Abuela’s were Abuela Ninina (short for Ñieves) and Abuela Elsa but as we got older and would Spanglishize our chats they became Weller over time. Abuela some how sounded like Weller to us in English. Lol. I don’t think they appreciated Weller as a name but that’s how it goes sometimes.
My mom is Mimi to all the grandkids and now all her kids call her Mimi and my dad is Papa where he used to be Papi to us.
I was Elena but since my mother was Elena as well my parents called me Elenita when I was born and my older sister shortened it to Nita which is what my family has called me my whole life – super confusing to my friends and colleagues. Maybe it’s a Cuban thing to rename people.
Besos a todos!
I call my grandparents Mima and Papo ♥️