Brandy as a word stems from Burnt Wine (Dutch; “Brandewijn”), and that should tell you all you need to know about this topic, since, as a rule, “Wine” means “fermented fruit juice”. Brandy is distilled fruit juice.
Now, today we understand wine as fermented grape juice, not any form of fruit. If you find wine made of plums, it is called Plum Wine, and so forth. Though, this is a fairly modern construct, that has followed the evolution of our languages. There used to be one word for all fruits. Now we have more than one word, and understanding each other has become much easier. Life is better.
The most common kinds of brandy would be Cognac, with honorary mentions to Armagnac, and I guess Spanish Brandy, which has been trying to make a market for itself for quite a while.
Cognac, the most famous biggest brother however, is quickly explained as such;
All Cognac must come from Cognac, an area on the west coast of France, and is divided into 6 smaller sub-terroirs (sub-areas, if you will), and they are as follows (lowest quality on top):