In 1999 Sony announced their robotic dog named
AIBO. At the time, I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and really wanted one.
Originally I learned that aibo in Japanese was the word
相棒 and meant pal. I thought this was the equivilent to "friend" and so I thought I really liked that. Since then I've learned it actually means partner... or someone who shares a common interest or activity with you. In that sense, everyone in TM is my aibo.
The only places I really needed a nickname online back in 1999 was on IRC and Usenet. So on DALnet, Newnet, and later EFnet.. I went by the name AiBO, aibo, or sometimes AIBO. I played with mixing some songs and for a short time went by the name DJ AiBO. That was quite short lived though.
At some point, probably around late 2000 or early 2001, I decided "aibo" wasn't unique enough. So I changed the spelling to "eyebo", since it still sounds the same, and I've stuck with the name ever since.
I've had the name now a third of my life and it feels as natural and as much a part of me as the name my parents gave me. I even got it put on my license plate.