I’ve never felt quite at home in the name Amanda, and Mandy was my childhood, so I am leaning into using Andie as my nickname. It just feels more fun and less formal, you know? Amanda is still my real official name (and I’m still a girl!) so no worries if you still call me that. It’ll take some getting used to, for me as well! And in the spirit of being fun and informal, of course I had to draw one of my stick-figure doodles as an “explainer” for the change.
![pencil drawing of stick figures showing Amanda as baby, Mandy as child, Amanda as adult, and now happy Andie](https://andiekbyrd.org/wp-content/uploads/andie_doodle-1024x871.jpg)