classic avoidant stuff. Intense to begin with, feels like dating, but then without it ever being said, you're relegated. This is what happened to me. "My" one's name didn't begin with A either but sure there are hundreds of these guys in ever city, with names beginning with, a,b,c,d,e ...
@PlipPlop7clocks I bet you're right that some of the women who aggressively pursued him 
were given the impression that he considered them his girlfriend only for him to change the goal posts after they had (reasonably) made that assumption.
You're beginning to sift through the facts you always had now without the romantic lens. This is good. You might feel extremely angry. I had memories that I refiltered and they made me angry.
The man who did this to me four years ago, he actually told me about a woman on line who he'd been chatting to. He was angry with her because after a day of chatting, she realised his profile said that he wasn't interested in a relationship, so she very swiftly, politely signed off on their chat. He screenshotted her response to me, so certain was he that she was ''sad''. Ie, that she would not continue to communicate with him because what he was offering wasn't what she wanted. He was literally angry with her that she had a boundary and rejected him! Oh the irony. That was one of several smell the coffee moments I had. Embarrassed to say that it took about three of these wake up and smell the coffee moments for me to finally stamp out this dynamic. He had such a massive blindspot that he couldn't see that although nobody ever got more out of him than he was willing to give, he had the temerity to stand in judgement of a woman who respected her own right to hold out for what she wanted.
I looked at this screenshot and my heart skipped a beat. I thought ''this woman has boundaries, she'll get what she wants''. So that woman did me a real favour. I am grateful to her.
I tried to point this out to 'my' friend as succinctly as I could and he disagreed. He was indignant. She hadn't read what it said on his tin (ie, not looking for a relationship). I pointed out that he hadn't read her 'tin' (looking for a relationship).
The whole thing was so clear when I was able to witness the way he treated OTHER women.
He had claimed to have read the female eunach but he only took the bits that supported his agenda to use women, emotionally, sexually, whatever, but never ever be accountable, responsible for their emotions or owing them fidelity.