Absolutely I can name them, and tell you when they died and where they're buried. I never knew either of my grandfather's, but I know all about them. Genealogy was a favorite topic. I'm Cuban/Spanish/Irish. My daughter has 1 grandfather left, my father, who is 96. She knew her other 3 grandparents well.

Absolutely and I can even tell you all my Great Grandparents too.

Cut some slack for younger folks who have up to 8 grandparents.......

I can name all 4, and my maternal grandmothers maiden name. I would have to look up the other though - in my defense, she died when I was two and I never knew her. I saw my grandfather about once a year, he lived two states away.

Genealogy has been one of my brothers favorite topics, so I've never had to delve too deeply - the works been done. I have a book he made for me with all the ancestors going way back, what photos he could find, it's pretty detailed.

I know my grands and great grands and great great grands, not out of geneological interests, just family stories. My children know through their great great grands, but it's only because I made a pont to teach them.

How more than 4?

yes. no, they only knew one of them ...

Including step-grands, Elmer

I can name three; both my grandfathers passed away decades before I was born. I don’t recall the name of my paternal grandfather, who was divorced from my dad’s mother when he was quite young.
My sister tells a story of how her son once described her father-in-law as “that man who has the same last name we do.”

Yes. All four of my grandparents were alive when both my children were born.

My children knew their maternal great-grandparents.

Yes. But one grandfather died before I was born. I didn’t see much of them. My children never knew any of my grandparents, although I imagine my daughter could name her paternal great grandmother since she has the same given name. They knew their own grandparents well since they lived longer and transport was easier.

Yes and yes for all three of mine. My parents both lost a parent when very young. One remarried, so I actually have five grand parents. It's a poor question these days. Most of my students have 6-10 grandparents and yes even the 6th graders can name them all.

Yes. I can name all 4 of my grandparents and my great grandparents as well. I knew and loved all four of my grandparents and was very blessed to have them all for a long time. I was in my mid to late 30s when my last grandparent passed. I also knew one great grandmother.

I can name my 4 grandparents, and due to my husband's genealogy hobby I think I can name the great grandparents on my mother's side... On my father's side I can only name his mother's father.

I never met any of my grandparents as they had all died before I was born. In fact, my parents never met each other's parents for that reason. All died here in the US so we do have their death certificates.

My kids knew all their grandparents and could certainly name them., as well as their great grandparents.

I can, including the spellings before they arrived at Ellis Island. My children can, too. They are named for two of them, and knew all four grandparents into their 20s.

Genealogy is a hobby of mine. I can name them. My children can name them. Two of my three children have been interested in specific lines and I've shown them some of my trees further back. My oldest has a related college history project this semester. He interviewed me over spring break and I supplied him with lots of info. I guess we will all end up as the family historians.

Me: First names -- yes. Full names -- no. My father's mother died before I was born, and his father didn't visit our family very often. So I know her first name and his first & last name, but would have to look up what exactly her last name was. We were closer to my mom's parents so I know first & last names for both of them very well.

DH: he knows full names of his grandparents on both sides, as well as some greats- and great-greats' names. His dad was a story-teller and it came naturally to him to talk about family roots.

Our DD: Honestly I'm not sure she'd know all five first & last names off the top of her head. We have given her a family-oriented photo album which includes family trees, so she could look them up. I say five because DH's mother died and his father remarried another wonderful woman before DD was born.

I not only know for DH and me, but I have wedding photos for each of the 4 couples.

I do, but my niece and nephew plus their children , I'm sure they can't.

Yes I can. And both our adult kids can name their grandparents, unfortunately they are all gone.

Sure...and thankfully, they lived long enough for me to know them all. Also can name the

Greats...but didn't know all of them personally.

I know my grandparents on my father's side. I don't know anything about my mother's side. She was born in 1904 and was illegitimate and given up and raised as a foster child. I only know that her mother was Jewish. My mother did remain in contact with her birth mother, but she died when I was about 6. I know the name of the man who was supposedly my mother's father.

I have no grandchildren.

I’m not sure my children know their grandmothers’ maiden names. Hmm, I’ll have to ask. Because there are so many of them, we often refer to my mother’s side of the family by their ”née “ last name, but I’m not sure if the kids are in the room when we do that. We rarely mention my DMIL’s last name, it just doesn’t come up.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure my kids don’t know their grandparents’ middle names. My DFIL’s middle names, I don’t know at all.

Yes, I was lucky to have all four grandparents in my life until my 30's. My maternal grandma is the only one still living. She's 82.

I've always known the birth names of all four of my grands. A short foray into genealogy provided earlier ancestors back to pre-Revolutionary War dates for some and pre-Civil War dates for my French emigrants. I'm missing a GGF on my only 'recent' emigrant, my maternal grandmother, who wass born late 19th C Ireland, but although I couldn't name them offhand, I know where to look for the names of all the rest of my Great-Greats -- and something of their histories.

I only 'knew' my maternal grandmother; she was widowed before I was born. After my father left us, his parents and sibs mostly disappeared.

I can name all four of my grandparents and the full names of great grandparents on my father's side (and many more on that side), but only maiden names of great grandmothers on my mother's side.

Some of my cousins on my father's side have taken genealogy much further and have even discovered ancestors from the 12th Century in England. They only went back to the 17th or 18th Century on the German side of the family, although they probably could have gone further back in Germany if they had learned German, since that side of the family were large landowners. My mother's family was not so wealthy, and so records are a bit more difficult to search. Some cousins on my maternal grandfather's side have done some research on that, but I have not kept that information. My maternal grandmother was from Germany, and not much information was kept about her ancestors. They were probably farmers, as they lived in a tiny village.

One of my Anglo ancestors on my father's side was Nicholas Brown, the founder of Brown University, and pretty much all of my English ancestors immigrated to Rhode Island (one to Massachusetts) in the early 1600s. It seems that ancestors on my father's side only married people with money, and so I think they were extremely class conscious. I know my father was, and he was also extremely racist.

Not off the top of my head. I know the names of my dad's parents but my mom's I'd have to think.

My kids can name them all as they knew them, at least for a short time.

I know the full names of all my grandparents plus my bonus maternal grandmother. My mother's mother died when she was small and my grandfather remarried. I didn't know my father's parents all that well though my two older siblings were closer to them. They disliked my mother and things would get testy from time to time. I dont know the great-grands off the top of my head though I have the information.

Yes, I know full names of all my grandparents, and a couple of my great grandparents. I also know full names of my husband's grandparents. My boys knew their paternal grandparents quite well, but my parents lived too far away for them to be close. So I doubt they knew the full names.

Rusty

I don't know them all. All except for my maternal grandmother were long gone by the time I hit the scene. And my parents - my father specifically - were of a generation that didn't share much. (I was almost 30 years old and about to be married when I found out my dad had been married before he met my mom!!) They also grew up in far flung corners of the globe and my dad left home at an early age. I got the impression that his was not a very settled childhood also, so maybe that influenced his reluctance to talk about his childhood and his family.

I can name all four grandparents who were alive when I was born but the grandfathers both died before I really knew them. I don't think either kid could name any of them.

Because alisande's opening comment was about whether people knew names of their four grandparents, implying biological grandparents, I thought that was the discussion. Everyone has four and four only.

I can name my four grandparents (only one lived long enough to be alive when I was). My kids know/knew their own grandparents but not mine.

Some of you, and your parents, seem to have had children younger in life than was the case in my and my wife's families. For us personally, our kids were born when we were in our thirties, as we in turn were born when our parents were in their thirties. Great grandparents were long gone as were some grandparents (or soon to be gone) for each generation.

Looks like I misread it and the question was can my children name my grandparents. No. They died in the 1950's. My daughter was somewhat interested in genealogy, and has/had what was known about my father's side of the family back to around 1600, but I doubt she could name my grandparents.

Very little is known about my husband's side.

I don't think he knew much about it himself. He was an orphan.

Yes, I know the names of my FOUR grandparents. And great grand parents.

When I was born, I had 6 great grandparents still living, 2 of who lived to nearly 100 yrs. I sat at their knee listening to stories they'd tell of growing up. Loved every second! Only wish I would have thought to write what they told down.

I know some, but not all. Paternal pa I know because men did a generational name thing. So it's also my brothers name. Paternal ma I know her common name, but I'm not sure if it's short for something. Maternal pa I know first and last, maternal ma I know first name- and second pa's first name. Both biological pas died when my parents were kids. Both mas had history with my parents that lead to not a lot after we weren't kids anymore. Second pa on moms side passed when I was a kid.

I can't name a lot of names, and for sure can't remeber greats without looking at notes. But I can tell what their medical histories are and how those trace back. Like the heart thing goes through paternial pa on his pas side. And of that generation there was a couple kids that died of heart things.

I know my granparents' names as well as some of my great-grandparents' names as the the great-grandparents didn't die until I was a young teen. I realize, though, that I don't know my dad's father's middle name. I'm not sure he had one. I know my grandmother didn't. Certainly, the girls know their grandparents' names, but probably not the names of their great-grandparents.

I think @Elmer J Fudd had a good point about the differences in ages when children were born and whether the ancestors were alive to be known. My parents had their children in their early 20's and, as previously stated, some of their grandparents were still alive.

You know, I actually can't name my grandfather from one side. He died when my dad was a child. I can name my step-grandfather though.

I had a moment a few months back where I had to try to recall relations to my first husband. My first husband passed a couple decades ago, I got the call from the coroners office about his half brother. Or rather, the office tracked my current husband down and left a message for me.

When I called back I was surprised about it. Hadn't heard anything about the family in ages. But turned out I was able to help them out. They tracked me down as first wife of deseased sibling of the deceased. They didn't know the deceased and my husband were half brothers- the dad adopted very early and all kids raised together. So they found out they had a whole nother branch of the deseased family to try to track down.

It was kind of surreal. I found out he had adult kids that hadn't been tracked down yet. In light of this thread, makes me think about if they know about their grandparents and relations.

Corner office?

I'm a heel.

I asked my child if they knew all four of their grandparents' names, and they named five names. Next year my father will have been married to his current wife 50 years. So yes my child has five grandparents. Oops. I mean yes I raised that child right! Family is family whether by marriage or blood. And by choice. Actually, by choice family can be the best

Elmer, she meant Coroner Office, I think.

Oh and yes I can name all of them, although 2 on mother’s side died before I was born.

My mother had a family Bible that kept track of relatives, but it mostly had information about my father's family, since his family had passed down lots of information about aunts, uncles, and some cousins, as well as ancestors. My mother's family did not do that, and my mother did not even know her maternal grandmother's maiden name - I had to ask my grandmother, and that is about all the info I got from her about that.

Relatives on both sides of my mother's family had huge family reunions because both of my mother's parents came from huge families, although my mother was an only child. It was nice to meet more distant cousins during those, since I did not have any first cousins from my mother.

My mother's father's family claimed to be Scots-Irish (from Northern Ireland, I presume), and they also claimed to have come to Texas from Tennessee, and so I guess they were hillbillies, since I've read that Hillbillies are Scots-Irish from Tennessee.

Well now I know I'm not a hillbilly. I'm not Scots-Irish. There's a distinction. I have Scottish, Irish, and English background, but NOT Scots-Irish.

Yes. I know all four of my grandparent's names, including maiden names. I'm pretty sure my son knows all four of his, too.

Lars, I don't know where you read that about hillbillies, but it's not true. There was a mixture of Europeans and their descendants in the Appalachians including Irish, Scots, English, German, Welsh, and French, along with Scots-Irish. Scots-Irish is a name for those from Northern Ireland who were of Scottish descent.

Elmer, really ? Have you nothing better to do ?

I know all of my grands and all but one of my great-grands. I also know a few of the great greats and on. I know the maiden names as well. My son knows all of his grands and all of mine (his greats), but not the greats on his father's side.

A related question, do you know your grandparents’ siblings names, if there are/were any? I do, but I don’t think my children know theirs. Come to that, I don’t think DH knows all his father’s siblings name. It was early-1900s Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and what is now Poland, and there were several deaths, and forced moves, and DFIL eventually grew up without a mother, so a lot of that information just wasn’t part of daily conversation.

This is a conversation that my H and I have had. He doesn't even know the names of his paternal grandparents, just the maternal ones. On the other hand, I can tell you the names of my four grandparents AND their sisters, brothers and in-laws too. Clearly, my parents dragged us around too much. One of my favorite stories is driving to my cousin's bridal shower in a snowstorm, and Great Aunt Ida in the backseat, saying that she hoped that when she died, the weather wouldn't be so bad for her son to fly up from Florida. That's motherly love!

They were in my life growing up so I knew their names plus my Dad's Mom who died when he was a child. Not sure if my nieces or nephews would know their names or even the full names of their grandparents. I was always interested in family history even when I was a child and would always ask questions about family they left behind in Scotland and England. Now I know the names of Grandparents going back generations which I find fascinating. I often wonder if my Grandparents knew of them.