I will endeavor not to call you that name in the future, my friend. 
I don't recall that you ever insulted me thusly, sir; if you had, I would've damned well remembered it.
It's a touchy issue for two reasons. My real name in real life has its formal style, a little boy's nickname, and an adult male's nickname. One can use the first or the third--I don't care which--but nobody's seen Wrath and Scorn and Contempt unless they've dared use the second name to my face.
It's touchy because it reinforces this "youngest brother" perception, as if one never grew up, and because people DO call the handicapped by their little boy or little girl names. Retarded "Johnnie," crippled "Charlie," blind "Bobby," and so on.
Of course, customs vary and personal preferences vary even more, and I can respect that. I realize that in JohnnyReb's neck of the woods, "Johnny" is perfectly acceptable usage for a gentleman, but I have personal problems with it. JohnnyReb is a personal hero of mine, and while I can accept it's okay among his own people to "Johnny" him, I just can't do it, even with ten mules dragging me. I just can't do it.
Not even with twenty mules and a camel dragging me, I can't do it.
This is why I always refer to the president who preceded Ronald Reagan as "the Incompetent One." To call him "James" or "Jim" sounds weird to other ears, but on my side of the coin, to call him "Jimmy" sounds ridiculous. So I simply call him "the Incompetent One."
Among the Italianate, diminuitives are considered terms of endearment.
But say, for example, the sparkling husband dude's name in real life (I have no idea what his name is in real life; this is just a "for example") is "Vincent." Probably his friends and family and associates call him "Vinnie."
There just isn't any way I'd call the sparkling husband dude "Vinnie;" that's a little boy's name.
I'd call him "Vincent" or "Vin" or "Vincenzo."
