I grew up with an Uncle Bud too - his actual name was Arthur. And on the other side my great grandfather was the youngest of eight and was called Buddy for like two years before they came up with an actual name for him.

Bud used to be a man's name. You don't hear it much anymore.

When my DD was a baby someone said "hey there little buddy" to her. I think because they thought she was a boy.

Buddy is a masculine noun in general, but I have heard people use it with women too.

Dude is gender neutral at this point.

I used to work in an office where I was the only woman on a team of six. All five men regularly referred to each other as "buddy." Never me though. One day I said, "why am I never a 'buddy'?" and just got befuddled looks. Annoying.

Anonymous wrote:It's not gender neutral. It's masculine.

+1 There are no female dogs named Buddy.

I refer to both my daughters as “Buddy” all the time.