my take on the nickname situation -
(i’m up by new york for reference) nicknames are just facts of life at this point, and people will call you anything if it comes naturally. example: my one friend gianna goes by gigi a lot, but her close friends don’t call her gigi because it just doesn’t flow. to us, she’s gianna. it’s rare that someone doesn’t like their nickname (which we do try to take into consideration) but it has happened. the closer you are to someone, the more nicknames come intuitively. my friend madison will forever be known to me as noodle because of an event. she didn’t ask to be called noodle, but it’s a given at this point.