Aging Gen Xers demand to be called Gigi, Mimi or Gaga – anything but ‘granny’

When Inna Berman learned last year that her 26-year-old daughter was having a baby. She was excited.

But would a Gen Xer be called a “grandma”?

Like.

“A grandmother is an old lady with gray hair,” Berman, 55, told The Post. “I am not a grandmother; I only have one grandson.”

As Generation X approaches 60 — the oldest members were born in 1965 and turn 59 this year — some members are becoming grandparents. But in typical Gen X fashion, they’re eschewing traditional grandma labels for playful alternatives like Gigi, Mimi, Gaga and Yaya.

“Nobody wants to be called a grandma,” said Jill Hite, a 56-year-old who lives in Fort Wayne, Ind., and has two young grandchildren. “Everybody I know is like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be called grandma, what’s my grandma going to be called?’ And on some level it becomes who you are.”

Hite, who owns a women’s boutique and posts over 50 fashion tutorials on @girlsourage on TikTok, decided to call her grandmother “Nonna” after a trip to Italy.

“We had a driver who was giving us a private tour and he said, ‘I’m going to take you to Nonna Maria’s house,’ meaning his grandmother,” she recalled. “My kids were like, ‘Mom, that’s going to be your name!’ I just wanted something fun.”

Berman — who welcomed grandson Kima Andre in February — also wanted something with a little angst.

The Park Slope resident came up with “Gigi” repeating the initials for “Grandma Inna”. At first, her children teased her.

“At first, I think everybody was making fun of him,” Berman said. “Like, ‘Why are you so afraid of being called a granny?’ But I’m not – I just don’t look or feel like one.”

Her family has realized that Gigi suits her. Berman works in the wine industry, still has a teenage child at home, and enjoys traveling with her husband (who still hasn’t figured out his grandfather’s name).

Michelle Janning, a sociology professor at Whitman College, said it makes sense that Gen Xers are rejecting the “grandma” label. First, there isn’t as much of a generation gap as there used to be, thanks to social media.

“My grandparents had no idea the kinds of music I listened to and the kinds of shows I watched,” said Janning, 52 and a Gen Xer herself. “There’s so much saturation of these things now that it’s easier to connect — or try to connect — with people of all ages.”

Many grandparents now feel too young for old-fashioned labels.

“People have long tried to avoid aging in general, but this has increased with the sheer volume of anti-aging messages published by the media and social media,” Janning said. “So I think women are choosing a title that doesn’t bring back that stigma.”

Tammy Sons, 55, didn’t want to look “old” when she gave birth to her first grandchild 17 years ago in her late 30s. (She gave birth to her oldest son at age 18.)

“I just couldn’t stand the thought of being called Grandma, Gram or Grandma!” recalls Sons, who now has six grandchildren and runs her own plant nursery, TN Nursery, outside of Nashville. “I asked my oldest son in the hospital when his wife was in labor – I said, ‘Please train this child to call me Nanny!'”

Changing family structures are also driving the trend, Janning noted.

There are more divorced and stepparents, LGBTQ grandparents, grandparents with non-married partners, and close friends who function as families than in previous decades.

“You need names to distinguish all these people in your life,” Janning said.

That’s the name of Gigi, Cindy Valdez, a 50-year-old portrait photographer from Tampa.

Two years ago, her eldest son was dating a woman with a 3-year-old daughter named Ameira, and things were getting serious.

“He said to me, ‘You’re probably going to want to think about a grandpa name,'” Valdez recalled. “Being a Gen Xer and having such a constant, calming thing, the ‘grandma’ label just didn’t fit. I’m still super active. I own my business. I’m not sitting at home crocheting blankets and watching Hee Haw reruns.

So when Valdez first met Ameira, she started talking about possible names. “When I said ‘Gigi,’ she immediately said, ‘Yes, Gigi!’

Now, Valdez has two granddaughters — Ameira, now 5, and 1-year-old Charlotte — and everyone agrees that “Gigi” is the perfect name for her.

“Let’s be honest, my grandchildren will probably learn their first curse words from me,” she said. “This is me alone: ​​I’ll be the grandma who takes the kids to the Metallica concert!”