You Can Call Me Ray. You Can Call Me Jay. Just Don't Call Me Granddad

As Baby Boomers go about reinventing "old age," one of the time-honored traditions they're ditching as grandparents is accepting nicknames that connote advancing years. According to the Wall Street Journal, many Boomers can't abide the idea of being called "grandpa," "grandma," "gramps," "granny," and the like.

Susan Wilkofsky, a 56-year-old documentary filmmaker who is youthful looking for her years, became a grandmother last Christmas. She rejected the Yiddish appellation "bubbe" because it suggested a frumpy old woman from the old country who has an accent and wears a babushka. She settled instead on "Glamma," as in, glamorous grandmother.

When comedy writer Alan Zweibel hears the term "grandpa," he thinks of a hunched-over old man who "pees involuntarily." He opted for "Lefty" or "Sheriff."

That got us to thinking what we want to be called when first grandchild arrives. (One of us has a 25-year-old daughter, so that occasion may not be that far away.) There's a good chance that we'll end up letting the little tykes call us whatever they want -- or whatever they can pronounce. The two-year-old daughter of one of our colleagues mangled the pronunciation of her grandmother's name, Sallie, to Lahi -- and the cognomen has stuck for more than 20 years. We intend to be more proactive in regards to the selection of our own name. We're partial to Bocephus. Or, should we decide to grow whiskers, maybe Woolly Bully.

Meanwhile, Boomers are reinventing time-honored grandparental roles in more profound ways. It's worth taking another look at Matt Thornhill's column, tagged "The Nanas and the Papas," written a year ago.

(Photo credit for image of Granny Clampett: TVland.com.)

Boomer Grandparents and Halloween

Here's one we know you don't know:

Among Boomers who are Grandparents, one out of three plan to go "trick or treating" on Wedneday night, according to our analysis of BIGresearch's Consumer Intentions and Actions Study, September 2007.

Who do you suspect they are going out with? Their grandkids, of course.

Marketing to Boomers who are grandparents (some 36% of all Boomers, and increasing every day), is going to be a big trend in the coming years. Sites like Grandparents.com and publications like GRAND Magazine are just the tip of the iceburg.

You'll need to decide how your company or organization can tap into the Grandparent life stage as a way to reach Boomers.

As we like to say, being a Grandparent isn't a rational description, it's an emotional badge of honor and distinction. And once a Grandparent, always a Grandparent.