Phee and Mick, I agree.
I totally understand though how a negative nickname might throw you, as for example, I prefer to refer to Archie as Hopper or Archie or Jimminy, not “the cricket”. I don’t know why…but it bugs me.
(I had to do the pun. It does indeed catch my eye, and annoy or irritate are too strong of words to use)
Maybe I’ll just call him CJ for Captain Jones to avoid implying anything about his state of mind when I don’t mean to do it. Of course then no one will know who I mean!
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass