About 15 years ago, in my primary care and developmental-behavioral pediatric practices, I noticed that virtually every English-speaking family started calling their children “buddy.” (In fact, my non–English-speaking patients might have been doing the exact same thing, but I did not recognize it.) Once I noticed it in my office, I heard it everywhere I was in contact with parents and young children. I was perplexed. Why had everyone stopped speaking to their children by name or with some endearment like “honey” and started calling them “buddy?” I once asked a mother why she called her son “buddy” all the time, and she replied, somewhat concerned, “I don’t know. Recently I noticed that I did that and wondered if he knew his name.” Of course, she was joking, and he knew his name, but I did wonder whether the new nickname would be a short fad or would persist.