There's one online name I haven't used in almost a decade, yet I still sometimes respond when people call out to someone with a similar name. Also, it was a name that I only used for 2 years, so I can definitely resonate with this joke.
It really frustrates me when authors just make characters unbelievably stupid to serve some singular purpose. In this case, they just want to stir up drama for the sake of drama.
@mikl I think that's just part of being human? There are things that people dislike about themselves, and for some, it just happens to be how they look.