Donkey Kong Jr.
During the development of "Donkey Kong Country", Diddy was originally conceived as an updated version of Donkey Kong Jr. (Donkey Kong's son). Not liking the radical changes Rare had made to Donkey Kong Jr., Nintendo told them either create a design that was closer to Donkey Kong Jr.'s original appearance for "Donkey Kong Country" or make their new version of him an entirely new character. Deciding to simply rename the character, who Rare felt was perfect for their updated version of Donkey Kong's world, Rare decided to name this kong 'Diddy' because in some parts of the UK, the British English slang word 'diddy' means small.