For These Celebrity Grandmas, ‘Granny’ Just Won’t Do

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GoGo, Honey, and Lovey don’t do “Grandma.” (Photos: Getty Images)

When you’re as beautiful, rich, and fabulous as stars like Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, and Kris Jenner are, “Grandma” — or, gasp, “Granny” — just doesn’t cut it.

These glam grams — as well as others including Blythe Danner, Martha Stewart, and Ivana Trump — have adopted hipper monikers, which don’t conjure images of rocking chairs, knitting needles, or housecoats. They’re fun and vibrant, just like the women themselves.

“There’s often a family story behind a special grandparent name,” name expert Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby, tells Yahoo Celebrity. “An affectionate title might be passed down through the generations, or pop up from a toddler’s babbling attempt to say ‘Grandma.’ For many families, the special name comes to represent the special bond between a grandma and grandkids. It’s like a secret code name, unique to their relationship.”

Let’s look at a few …

Goldie Hawn: GoGo
Kate Hudson’s mama goes by a nickname she has had all her life, which was given to her by an aunt, the 70-year-old actress — who has five grandkiddies between Kate and her son, Oliver — said on the Today show in 2014. And it isn’t lost on Goldie that she was a go-go dancer early in her career. “I was a go-go girl, so it all works. And I walk fast too,” she laughed.

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GoGo with four of her five wee ones. (Photo: Instagram)

Susan Sarandon: Honey
The 69-year-old actress is waiting for her second grandchild to arrive later this year (daughter Eva Amurri is expecting again), but her name is already well established. “I borrowed this name from a very dear friend of mine who’s from the South, and his grandma was ‘Honey,‘” she told People magazine in 2014. Soon after, she elaborated to the New York Times, saying, “My hairstylist said it’s a Southern thing, and I thought, That’s kind of fabulous … ‘Honey, come over here.’ ‘Where’s Honey?’” Sarandon even wears a necklace with the name on it. Pretty sweet.

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Honey and the adorably pigtailed Marlow spend quality time together. (Photo: Instagram)

Kris Jenner: Lovey
The Kardashian matriarch has name-changed along the way. “At first I was ‘Grandma,’ and all of a sudden I didn’t like the way that sounded,” the reality star, who has spent a lot of money to appear youthful, told People magazine in 2013. “My mom had a friend called Lovey, and I thought that was the cutest name.” The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, 60, is now a grandma to five, which means she gets a lot of “Lovey” from them.

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Lovey with two of her grandchildren: Penelope Disick and North West. (Photo: Instagram)

Blythe Danner: Lalo
Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter, Apple, christened the star of the Madoff movie Lalo. “I had all these names picked out,” Danner, 73, said on Access Hollywood in 2011. “I love dogs, so I was going to have them call me ‘Woof.’ That didn’t take. [So] I was sitting there, she was there in her highchair — she could barely talk — and I said, ‘Who am I? Am I Woof?’ And she went, ‘No. No, no.’ And I came up with a few other names, and I said, ‘Well, who am I?’ And she said, ‘Lalo.’ And then she laughed for about a minute — hysterically — and an hour later, I was still Lalo.” In addition to Apple, she is a grandma to Moses and her son Jake Paltrow’s two children with artist Taryn Simon.

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Lalo is a grandma to four, including Gwyneth’s duo. (Photos: Getty Images/Instagram)

Martha Stewart: Martha
While the domestic goddess, 74, likes the classics when it comes to china patterns, she’s not into another classic — the word Grandma. Before her first grandchild even arrived, her only daughter, Alexis, announced that Martha would be known as … Martha. “She seemed to have no problem with it,” Alexis — who has two children, Jude and Truman — said on her radio show, Whatever With Alexis & Jennifer, in 2011. “I was like, ‘Do you really want to be “Grandma”? I don’t like the term Grandma!’” Martha apparently agreed.

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Martha gave granddaughter Jude a lift in 2014. (Photo: Getty Images)

Jane Seymour

The actress and jewelry designer, 65, used to roll her eyes at friends who gushed over their grandkids, until her own arrived. “Of course, I have my first grandchild, and it’s like, ‘A grandchild! A grandchild!” she told AARP. Her little trio, including little Luna, who was born in December, call her Oma, which is the Dutch term for Grandma. And her Instagram is filled with photos of her in action as Oma.

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We bet all of Oma’s grandchildren, including Luna, have pieces from her Open Hearts collection. (Photo: Instagram)

Ivana Trump: Ivana-ma or Glam-ma
The Donald’s first wife, who we’ll always imagine in full ’80s regalia with shoulder pads and big hair, is a grandmother to eight thanks to kids Ivanka and Don. (No kids for son Eric yet.) The 67-year-old socialite fancies herself too glam to be called Grandma though. She told the New York Post in April that she goes by “Ivana-ma or Glam-ma.” Of course she does.

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Ivana-ma and two of Ivanka’s kids, Arabella and Joseph. (Photos: Getty Images/Instagram)

Jane Fonda: Grandma
While the ladies named above try to set themselves apart from the other grams out there, the Grace and Frankie star, 78, isn’t trying to. She’s just happy to be part of the club. “When my daughter first became pregnant, my friends in Atlanta asked what I wanted my grandchild to call me. I said, ‘ Grandma, of course,’ and they were shocked,” she told NJ.com in 2012. “Their kids called them Dolly, Nanny, anything else. But I like ‘Grandma.’ I like being a grandparent.”

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Jane loves being “Grandma.” (Photo: JaneFonda.com)

She should — it’s a special gig.