It’s Aziraphale. Not Azi or Zira.
One thing I’ve been fixated on lately is the importance of names in Good Omens; namely Aziraphale’s, namely how Crowley has been affectionately calling him Angel and the fandom “Azi” or “Zira”.
But Neil Gaiman continues to call him Aziraphale.
You’d think that being co-creator of this character, one of two people who nurtured the thought into a fully fleshed out character, he’d have the impulse - nee, he’d have the right to use a term of endearment or shorten his name; but I think it’s precisely because he cares so deeply about this character that he uses his full name.
Names are everything to angels. Think about how Michael tells Gabriel that choosing love means giving up being Gabriel; choosing Beelzebub meant losing Archangel Gabriel, patron saint of messagers, bringer of spiritual gifts and knowledge. For him, choosing love effectively meant losing his identity.
Now, think about the theory that Crowley is Raphael. Think about how falling from heaven meant becoming “Crawly”; his name, his identity, stopped being ethereal and was, instead, reduced to something animalistic, something he does when he tempts Eve. In every sense of the word, he has been casted out and belittled - now, he crawls.
Except he also asks Aziraphale to call him Crowley. In that brief interaction, Crowley decides that he will no longer let Heaven’s shame dictate who he is - and that starts with his friend, his companion, calling him Crowley. In fact, Crowley decides to bring himself closer to heaven by choosing a Crow. He is no longer looking up at Heaven from the muddied ground; he is choosing to fly. In a sense, that could be the first time he chooses to truly be on his own - he is no longer Archangel Raphael or Crawly the snake; he is Crowley.
And then he chooses Anthony J. Crowley. He humanizes his name.
So, what does this mean for Aziraphale?
First, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Aziraphale is so close in nature to Raphael - just a few letters off from being the patron saint of protection and healing. And, just like his name, Aziraphale is always just a few letters off from being good - or, at least, Heaven’s version of good. Aziraphale chooses gluttony, he chooses temptation, he confuses desperation with selfishness (think back on his actions in The Ressurrectionist and his interpretation of Crowley’s “we could’ve been us”). Aziraphale wants to be associated with Raphael, but he could never be heaven’s version of Raphael.
Unlike Crowley, Aziraphale also never truly humanizes his name. He never chooses a first name, instead he goes with A. Z. Fell. He focuses on the fall; he, too, is the version of Raphael that fell.
It’s also pretty significant that he allows Crowley to call him “Angel”. In The Hitchhiker, Aziraphale deepens his voice and looks annoyed when Furfur cannot pronounce his name. He takes pride in his name and Furfur is desecrating it. So, why does he never correct Crowley when he calls him “angel”? After all, he is part of an institute that values the power of names. In one sense, it could be because Aziraphale is proud to be an angel; in another, it could be that Aziraphale temporarily (and blissfully) allows Crowley to separate him from his duties as Heaven’s soldier.
Every time Crowley calls him angel, Aziraphale temporarily chooses to lose his identity to love.
So, what does this say about Neil never shortening his name? It could be nothing. I could be reading too much into it to justify my personal choice to not shorten Aziraphale to “Azi”; or it could be a way to honour Aziraphale’s depth and complexities. He’s not Azi, he’s not Zira. He is Aziraphale.
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