It is inspired by a ’90s boyband.
A furious mum-to-be has turned to the internet for advice after her friends and family won’t use the ’90s boyband-inspired nickname she picked out for her unborn son.
The unnamed woman explained that she has had the name for her little one picked out “since I was a child” – as it was inspired by her love of the Backstreet Boys.
The pop super-fan had picked out the name Alexander James, which she would shorten to AJ.
And while she ended up changing it slightly – making the middle name Jason rather than James – she is determined to keep it shortened to AJ.
She wrote on Mumsnet:
“I’m 35 weeks pregnant and I’m having a little boy. Since I was a child I’ve loved the name Alexander James using AJ as a nickname. (I’ll admit it started as I loved the Backstreet Boys)
“Now 20 on this generation of babies has a James and at least one other child with James as a middle name. So I changed the middle name for my son to Jason but still want to call my baby AJ.
“Over the last few weeks everyone from my step mum to the children on my partners side have been referring to him as Alex no matter how many times I correct them.
“It’s not as if they’ve ever refused to use nicknames before we have an Ollie (Oliver), Harry (Harrison), Albie (Albert), and Mila (Emelia) so why is it that they’re refusing to use my chosen nickname?”
The reaction to her post was pretty mixed, with many people pointing out a nickname is usually given and not pre-decided.
One person said:
“It’s not up to you….a nickname is a shortened version which people choose to use as it suits them. You can’t police it!”
Someone else commented:
“Nicknames appear because of characteristics, personalities etc not something that gets dictated especially before birth!”
Another person wrote:
“I wouldn’t use that nickname either. You’re choosing to officially call him Alexander, so even you must think there’s something wrong with ‘AJ’.”
Others urged her to to ‘correct’ the people who are calling him Alex rather than AJ – and to change what the ‘A’ name means, so that they weren’t using the right name.
Someone suggested:
“Keep changing your mind about the name that begins with A too so AJ is the only thing that stays consistent.”
