Such things do happen; some families, to ensure their children survive, will give them all sorts of strange nicknames. There are quite a few boys who are directly called sister or sis as pet names.
Some even dress their boys in skirts and pierce their ears when they are young, raising them just like girls, because people believe girls are easier to raise than boys.
So by giving them girls' names and dressing them in girls' clothes, it's like leaning their fate towards that of a girl's, making it easier for the child to survive.
The current Emperor even has a well-known nickname, Cat Slave.
Anyway, pet names are chosen as humbly as possible.
Zhou Xi said, "No, not in my family, my little sister's nickname is Manbao, we don't do humble nicknames at our house."
He paused, then added, "None of our children have died young; they all survived."
