From Brandy To Biddy....

So, lately I've had a couple of folks be like "who the hell is Brandy?" Well folks, my birth name is Brandy. Like the drink. I'm not exactly fond of the name. I mean, really...how can you love your name when you have 5649616 people say something along the lines of "oh! my grandmother's dog's name is Brandy!" I kid you not, I get it all the time.

So, how did Brandy become Biddy, you ask? While I wish it was something amazingly cool like I found out I am actually a Nubian Queen and that is my Nubian Queen name, it's not.

You see, when Jake started speaking English (as opposed to his birth language of Baby) he had no problems saying Mimi, Papa, Mama, Paw Paw, Nana, or even Mawghi (my mother). He knew which people those names went with, he was brilliant. My niece, Maya, calls me Aunty (ON-TEE) Brandy. I love Aunty Brandy. It's just so dang cute. And since Maya is the oldest and got to name me and my parents, we naturally taught Jake our names. Like I said, no problem with Mawghi and Paw Paw. Aunty Brandy? bsshhht! We'd say Aunty Brandy, he would look at me, point and say "Biddy." So, we would say "aunty brandy" and he would get the "shut the fuck up i know what i'm talking about" look on his face, point at me and say "BIDDY!"

I wasn't too fond of being a 20 year old (at the time) Biddy. I thought surely it was some forecast of the rest of my life and that scared the livin daylights out of me. But as time went on and "biddy" became "NO! that's BIDDDDDDDDYYYYYYY" I gave up. I mean, it is pretty darn cute coming out of his mouth.

The really confusing part of it all? When he was making that transition from Baby to English (actually, he speaks Jake. we all speak fluent Jake around here), my Aunt Kathleen was known as Beedy. Can we say WHAT?!?! We'd say "aunt kathleen," he would point to her and say "Beedy!" I'd say, "i thought that was me" and he would give me the "gawd you're so stupid" look and say "no, you BIDDY" He knew what the hell he was talking about...and we soon learned. We praised the day he started calling her "Grammy" (that's what his cousins, her grandkids, call her) because it meant we didn't have to have our hearing aides turned up to sonar.

So, that's how Brandy became Biddy. Should I sign something of yours, Brandy, now you know who the hell it is...

I still wish it was because I'm a Nubian Queen...But I'll gladly be Jake's Biddy till the day I die...

*sidenote* yes, MP, many many people now call me Biddy. I have always been "B" and my sister and aunt kathleen still call me that. My parents, grandmother, all of my cousins' kids, and some of my friends call me Biddy. It's pretty funny to hear a grown man call me Biddy in a very childlike voice. You just can't help but say it the way my little hick nephew does (with about 4 extra syllables). Occasionally Friend calls me Biddy, but i'm pretty much still Ricky to him.