People always ask me where I got the nickname \u2018BJ\u2019.<\/p>\n
Well, first off, my folks wanted a million kids, their firstborn\u2013they wanted badly\u2013to be a son. My dad, who was an orphan, was named \u2018William\u2019 before he got adopted by a foster family. I don\u2019t know why they renamed him but he wound up being called Robert instead of \u2018William\u2019. So then Dad\u2019s name became Robert and naturally the first kid was going to be named \u2018William Robert\u2019 because \u2018William\u2019 was really Dad\u2019s name but \u2018Robert\u2019 was his new name so they wanted to incorporate them somehow, and pass it on. When my grandmother on my mother\u2019s side got wind of this, she said, \u201cYou name that kid \u2018William Robert\u2019, and I\u2019m sure as hell gonna call him \u2018Billy Bob\u2019!\u201d Well, mom wasn\u2019t so keen on that (being a Northerner) so she and dad decided the firstborn would be called \u2018Robert William\u2019 instead.<\/p>\n
Although I turned out to be a girl through and through, I got stuck with my folks naming plan anyway. So the name on my birth certificate is Roberta Joanne. Everyone knows \u201cRoberta\u201d is the female version of the name \u2018Robert\u2019. And what do \u201cRoberts\u201d usually get nick-named? \u201cBobby\u201d. Only mine is spelled with an \u2018i\u2019, making it \u201cBobbi\u201d. Joanne, being my middle name, becomes shortened to \u201cJo\u201d. So my birth name converts into the name I prefer to be called, which is \u201cBobbi Jo\u201d, and thusly, \u201cBJ\u201d.<\/p>\n
For years I got called BJ sometimes by my parents, who thought not only was it short, but cute. When I was six, a TV show came out called, \u201cBJ And The Bear\u201d and the lead character was called \u201cBJ McKay\u201d and so that is when it really stuck and everyone started calling me that.<\/p>\n
\nOther posts on this day:<\/p>\n
People always ask me where I got the nickname \u2018BJ\u2019. Well, first off, my folks wanted a million kids, their firstborn\u2013they wanted badly\u2013to be a son. My dad, who was an orphan, was named \u2018William\u2019 before he got adopted by a foster family. I don\u2019t know why they renamed him but he wound up being … <\/p>\n