This is a question that comes up every once in a while.
Years ago I decided that I wanted an email address like adrian@otero.com. It looked cool, I guess.
otero wasn't available in any of the major domains, so I started to look for alternatives. I eventually found ws. This is the domain for the country of Samoa and I guess they weren't selling many because they started promoting it as an acronym to website.
adrian.otero.ws
adrian - otero - website
That was the idea. I liked it.
Today, I don't know of anyone using that domain in that way.
Anyway, about that time, Twitter launched and I had to get a username. I went for "adrian otero ws", aows. I loved how short it was.
Over the years, I kept using the same username in every social network and platform I signed up for, including Instagram. That's where my photography career started, and since I couldn't find a better / easier username I stuck with it.
And this is where aows comes from.