orthography - Nana or Nanna? (When Referring to Grandmother)


So, according to the Oxford Dictionary (English Dictionary), Nana is defined as one's grandmother, and Nanna redirects to Nana.


According to Dictionary.com (American Dictionary), Nana is one's grandmother, and Nanna is "The wife of Balder" (Scandinavian Mythology) or "The Sumerian god of the moon: the counterpart of the Akkadian god Sin".


A question was raised at this. I am Australian and have always spelt Nana as Nana. My brother, however, spells it as Nanna. The spell checker in Firefox is currently detecting Nanna to be correct to Nana.


My question is, in Australian/British English, how is Nana spelt? With one n or two?



Answer



In British English, it would generally be spelt as 'Nana' without the double n. But as with the first comment, as a personal 'nickname' it could be spelled either way.


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