What's in a kuku name?

Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.

~Welsh Proverb

The 12 plus inches of snow we've received has left my workplace a little on the quiet side, not many people are willing to brave the roads to have a drug screen or a physical done. So the girls and I have had a little extra time to chat about the more important things in life, like what will this new baby call her grandmother?

It is amusing to hear what everyone calls their grandparents or what their own children call them. My own children called my mother Granny when they were little and once they were pretty much grown they called her GG. We always told her it stood for greatest grandma, but in reality we lovingly called her goofy grandma. I do not really recall having any grandmother. She passed away when I was 7 years old and lived in another city, so I have virtually no memory of her.

Lots of suggestions were offered up; Grandma, Granny, Gran, Mamaw, Meme, Nan, Nana- I don't really have a preference. Mark says he already knows what the baby will call me. "Stranger". Ha,ha, little does he know that I have no intention of letting that happen. It was during this discussion that I recalled Heather telling me she wanted the baby to call me the Hawaiian name for grandmother. For the life of me I couldn't recall what it was, but with the assistance of google I had my answer within seconds...

It was Kuku Wahine. After the laughter died down and I picked myself up off the floor a momentary bit of panic set in. Kuku Wahine??? Seriously??? I went back to google and read further, convinced that there must be more to this story...or was this karma for calling my own mother goofy grandma? So I read the article again and there I found my explanation. Although Kuku Wahine was the traditional name for grandmother, the contemporary version is Tutu. Unconventional yes, but I can live with Tutu, in fact I like it very much.

So goes the name game...however, I am old enough and wise enough to know that the best laid plans sometimes go astray. My dear friend Brenda told me she went through the same thing when her granddaughter Kaylee was born. Brenda advised me not to worry too much about what my own granddaughter will call me. She said "It doesn't matter what you choose. That baby will decide, and whatever comes out of her mouth the first time will stick forever". Let's just hope it isn't Kuku. :)