Aaron's new nickname

From Hello My Name Is issue #1:

AARON

My mother wanted to name me Asa but changed her mind at the last minute, convinced that my entire life kids would taunt me and call me "asshole.”

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The other night Nick and I were talking about this name story since it’s about his brother Aaron. What if Aaron HAD been called Asa we wondered? Would Aaron have indeed been taunted relentlessly throughout chlidhood, forced to use his middle name Robert, eventually becoming Bob or Bobby?

“He doesn’t look like a Bobby,” I said, and Nick agreed. Bobby? No way. “What about Ace?” I said next and Nick completely agreed, yup, that’s exactly what it would have turned into. Then we talked about how we would call him Aesop since Aesop Rock’s nickname is Ace. How cool is that?

Still curious to find out what Aaron thought about it all, I called him last night and asked, “Hey, what IF your name was Asa?”

Aaron: Oh, well, when mom told me she was going to name me Asa, I immediately thought, COOL, then all my friends would have called me “Ace” which would have been so rad!! But then, my father stepped in.

So, we were right! I love how Aaron’s confidence and positive attitude would have turned this possibly awkward name during childhood into something really cool, special and enviable! My talk with Aaron also made me realize that I had gotten part of his name story wrong for issue #1. It was his dad who stepped in and said, “No!” to Asa, not a last minute decision on his mom’s part. Ha!

Aesop is totally Aaron’s new nickname.