Buddy

Originated as an American pet form of brother, occasionally influenced by the British dialect term for companion. By the late nineteenth century, parents began skipping the formal baptismal name and entering the nickname directly into municipal ledgers.

A Buddy is rarely imagined filling out paperwork without someone asking if that is the name on the birth certificate. It carries the straightforward cadence of an uncle who knows which gas station sells the good ice. In contemporary rooms, it registers as open-handed and thoroughly unpretentious.