I didn't used to like it much because I'm not terribly keen on the sound, but I do really like the word. And so the past few months I haven't been minding it... I've been able to make the opera association overcome the sound, and so I can kind of like it.
I don't think it needs an official nickname at all. Yeah, you could call an
Aria "
Ari" casually, but it's such a short name that I think it would be strange to have it be the kind of nickname she is called all the time and she'd write down on her papers at school.