Hal McCoy wrote a little bit about Bubba in the Dayton Daily News today:
A little Bubba
His name is Richard Steven Crosby, but since he was a kid he always has been Bubba Crosby. He is only 5-11, 195 pounds and when asked, "Isn't a guy named Bubba supposed to be real big, real hefty," Crosby said, "That's in Alabama and Arkansas, not in Texas."
Crosby said he became Bubba when a younger sister couldn't say brother, and it stuck.
"I tried to change it in school, call myself Richard, but kids would call for me and ask for Richard, and my parents would burst out laughing and say, 'You mean Bubba?' "
Nits: I think Bubba's middle name is "Stephen," not "Steven." And it was his older sister, not his younger sister.
It's a very cute story, though. My mom, who is a teacher, hates nicknames. She says it's hard enough learning 25 names every year, without having to remember that John is "Jack" and Katharyn is "Katie." So my parents gave me a name it was impossible to shorten. I always had nickname envy as a kid. But once I left home, people started calling me all kinds of nicknames, most of them completely unrelated to my actual name, and much longer. There's one old Portuguese guy at work who calls me by a string of two or three Portuguese given names - just because he thinks mine is too short. My poor mom.
