A mum is furious that her friends and family won't use the nickname she's chosen for her son.

Can you choose your child’s nickname before they’re even born?

A UK mum is trying to. And so far, it’s not going well.

The pregnant mum-of-four shared her frustration on parenting forum Mumsnet after she ran into a dilemma with her unborn bub’s nickname: No one is using it.

“I’m 35 weeks pregnant and I’m having a little boy,” she explained.

“Since I was a child I’ve loved the name Alexander James using AJ as a nickname,” she said, adding it may have something to do with the Backstreet Boys member.

But since James is such a common name, she’s changed the name to Jason, still wanting her son to be known as AJ.

The only problem is, everyone else in her life keeps calling her baby bump “Alex”.

“Over the last few weeks, everyone from my step mum to the children on my partner’s side have been referring to him as Alex no matter how many times I correct them.”

It’s not the worst name we’ve heard. These names on the other hand…

The mum said she was finding this confusing considering the family never had a problem using her chosen nicknames before. (Yep, it seems this mum has a penchant for calling her baby one thing, but actually wanting him or her to be known as something else.)

“It’s not as if they’ve ever refused to use nicknames before,” she said. “We have an Ollie (Oliver) Harry (Harrison) Albie (Albert) and Mila (Emelia).

“So why is it that they’re refusing to use my chosen nickname?

“Am I just being an unreasonable b*tch to expect people to use a specific short form?”

Well…

That’s not exactly what fellow parents said in their responses, but they weren’t that sympathetic either.

“They might just dislike initials as a nickname. I know I do. Sorry,” one commenter bluntly replied.

“People will call him what they want to – you can’t dictate a nickname,” said another, who was speaking from experience.

“I called my son Owen, partly because I didn’t want my children to have shortened names and I thought Owen was pretty solid. When he was young, his friends started calling him “Ozie” and so he became Ozie.

“Nothing I can do about it. And there is nothing you can do about the Alex/AJ thing.”

Another agreed: “It’s not up to you… a nickname is a shortened version which people choose to use as it suits them. You can’t police it.”

Others pointed out that “AJ” wasn’t so much a nickname as initials, which is why it may not be catching on as well as her other children’s nicknames.

Meanwhile, some parents did have some (sort of) helpful suggestions for the mum.

“Keep changing your mind about the name that begins with A too so AJ is the only thing that stays consistent,” one suggested.

“You could use names they hate like Arnold Jago or Albert Justin. Straw poll them, find out what names they like and dislike beginning with A and J,” another joked.

Or she could just call him AyJay?

What do you think? Can you pick your child’s nickname and expect everyone to stick to it?