the.com/nana

means An affectionate, informal name for a grandmother, used across many English-speaking families.

from Nana belongs to a big global family of toddler-babble words — think mama, papa, dada, baba — built from the easy repeated syllables babies produce first. Linguists have long noted that 'nana'/'nanny' type sounds show up across unrelated languages for grandmothers, nurses, or caregivers, likely because 'na' and similar nasal sounds are among the first consonants infants master. It's related to 'nanny,' which by the 18th century meant a child's caregiver. No single inventor, no single country — just generations of babies babbling at the women who fed and fussed over them, and the name sticking.