...accidentally called a person by a nickname they didn't know they had?
I did it once - the person in question owed me money - he is known as "Sunbird".
I spent ages chasing him for this money and in the meantime I was deliberately referring to him behind his back as "Sunburn" then one day I phoned him and said "is this Sunburn?"
He sort of went "Yuuuurrsss?" Most embarrassing, then again - the guy is a kundt.