Family nicknames can get surprisingly complicated when everyone has a different idea of what they should mean.

One father ran into that after his 18-month-old daughter started calling him “dada” and his wife “mama.”

Wanting to join in, the grandfather began teaching her to call him “papa.”

The problem is, the child’s mother is Hispanic, and the father associates that word with “dad,” not “grandpa.”

He asked his dad to use “grandpa” instead, but he got upset and kept ignoring the request.

Read on to see how it all played out.

AITA for telling my dad not to have my 18-month-old call him “Papa”?

My daughter recently started identifying my wife and me by saying either “mama” or “dada,” followed by her pointing at us, respectively.

My dad (her grandpa) wanted to join in on the fun and started introducing himself to her as “papa” and trying to get her to point at him with that term.

I asked him politely not to use that name and instead use “grandpa.”

I’ve caught him continuing to use “papa” multiple times now and have been reminding him not to use that name.

Then, his dad got pretty upset.

This last time, he got upset and combative with me and said it’s rude of me to restrict what she calls him and that it’s rude of me to decide what he gets called.

I have explained to him that my wife is Hispanic (I am white) and that the word “papa” is dad in Spanish.

Furthermore, I feel uncomfortable with her calling him “papa,” as I relate that term to me, not him.

I’m not sure if he used the term “papa” for his grandpa as a kid and wants her to do the same, but I have never heard him use “papa” for grandpa in my life.

AITA?

Yikes! But his reasoning makes perfect sense.

Let’s take a look at what the people over at Reddit think about it.

This person thinks he should ask his dad why it matters to him so much.

Here’s someone who had the same problem.

According to this comment, he’s making a big deal out of nothing.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a group trip that sours when additional guests are added without agreement.

This reader thinks it’s up to the parents.

This probably isn’t worth turning into a huge fight.

On one hand, the father has a fair reason for not wanting “papa” used, especially because that word already means something specific in his household.

But, at the same time, the grandfather clearly wants a special name from his granddaughter.

They may be better off picking something else together before this gets blown way out of proportion.