That nickname you gave someone in seventh grade? They might still hear it at thirty. Words stick longer than you meant them to.

A name handed out in four seconds can outlast the friendship, the school, and your own memory of saying it. Forgetting is easy for you because it was never about you. The other person carries it into rooms you will never stand in, which is why the gap between how funny it was and how long it lasted gets so wide.

If one of yours is still following somebody, you can retire it and say so plainly. Nothing dramatic is required. Use their actual name, out loud, in front of the same people who learned the other one.