Grandson Changes My Name--and Carolan's!

My grandson Colin, just turned two years old, has been calling me "Brrr" for some time now. My guess is that "Brrr" comes from "beard." At first he pronounced this name with a strange trilled and growled "r" sound. Now the "r" sounds more American-like. Colin calls me this all the time. That is my new name.

Colin calls Linda "Nana," even though we never used that word with him. I guess it was his version of "Grandma" or Gramma." Colin calls both grandmas "Nana"--again, all the time, consistently.

The strangest name Colin has is for his Aunt Carolan. There is no way I know to transcribe it, other than possibly "rrrrrrrrrrrr." The name begins with a trilled "r" sound, evolves into a growled or almost gargled "r" sound, a sound that doesn't exist in American English. Finally, it finishes, usually, with the trilled "r." It is a long, strange name, and Colin is fairly consistent with its use.

Colin has a few other unusual names. The dog "Sandy" is called something like "andy." And I can't quite figure out how he refers to himself. It often uses the vowels present in "Colin," but not the consonants. Sometimes I can't figure out what he is saying, but I recognize it as his name.

Colin can say Aunt Emily's name very well ("Em"); same with Anne Marie's daughter Ella--he says it perfectly, with relish. He also says "Mama" and "Dadda" just perfectly. He calls his paternal Grampa "Bumpa," a name that Ken Kleppel himself uses (possibly from his German heritage).

My favorite pronunciation from Colin, besides "rrrrrrrrrrr," is his way of saying "vanilla." I can't transcribe it. He seems to have the vowels right, but there are some consonant there that I can't quite figure out.