Naming

One of the bloggers i follow, The Blue Bride did write a very nice blog about what her kids addresses their immediate family. I got enthu about it and decided to note down Dan's list over here.

Since Gin and me belong to the same community and to the same state, we call both our parents Appa and Amma. Though it creates confusions at times, we survive by addressing them as Thrissur Appa-Amma and Kottayam Appa-Amma, without much of a disaster.

But when the kid was about to be born i didnt want the baby to distinguish the grandparents with a prefix. I think everyone in my family did call the grandparents on both sides Appacha Ammachi and just differentiated them with the prefix. I used to call my maternal grandparents Vakathanam Appacha-Ammachi and the paternal ones were just Appacha-Ammachi. I wonder how my Amma felt about it. I should remember to ask her the next time :) I clearly didnt want it with our kid. And Gin's niece did rescue me from this situation by starting a tradation of calling the grandparents by Maama-Ajjajja :) Who am i to change this wonderful tradition and hence Daniel's paternal grandparents are Maama-Ajjajja and his maternal grandies are addressed as Appacha-Ammachi :-) Win-win isnt it.....

Daniel is very blessed to have one of his great grandparents around. And all the more now, because he is spending time with her in Kottayam. He and her other great grand kids (6 in all) refer to our Ammachi as Valiyammachi....

Our eldest niece did name her mothers younger sisters as "ko"". It was the short form for Kochamma, which is what mothers younger sisters are addressed as. So Daniel also follows the same and that leaves CHech and her husband. They are refered to as Valiyammi and valiyappa. I find that very cute. The brother is addressed as Ammacha and the big cousin brothers caption is still remaining blank ,but his wife will be called P ammayi....

We havent yet decided what Dan will call GIn's brother and wife... I guess we will go with G chachen and R kochamma, the same way as Gin refers to his Appa's brothers and wives.

I think the important people or the people with whom Daniel will interact frequently are named and to his credit he recognises most of them. It was simply amazing when he recongnised whom we were talking about when the subject of Bek-Nan-Tama came up and he promptly pointed to their snaps on the refrigerator. And i dont think he remembers seeing them around 4 months back in May.

Another name worth mentioning is one of my cousins on my Amma's side. She insisted on making Daniel address her as Mema :) I guess that is how northern kerala folks address mothers younger sister. :)

So that is how the nomenclature goes on in the Punnoose family.....