What's in a name?

Patch 3.1.3

My nickname, or the name I've given myself in every fandom dealing with some form of roleplaying in one way or another, is Ember Isolte. It has been my nickname since I was in the 7th grade, but you can imagine my completely unsurprised reaction to find the name "Ember" already in-use when I started playing WoW. It's one of those common but pretty unique sounding short words that get taken real fast like that. I admit I was slightly disappointed but I expected it so I wasn't too heartbroken.

So, I settled for "Emberisolte" and played a female night elf druid (on Uther US-PvE server) in a sort of tribute to my nature-loving, fire-child, wannabe-earth-religion side. I made a few more characters and took their names right out of my favorite book trilogy, New Moon by Midori Snyder, and even some of those names were taken. When I created my shaman I named her Isolte since I was lucky enough to find that name available at the time that Burning Crusade came out. I didn't even think to "reserve" it so long ago the way some people do even if they never ever play the toon. So, I still feel lucky about that one.

I got to thinkin' that it's been a long time since the game first released and I randomly searched for "Ember" on the Armory to see if one still existed on Daggerspine, and, lo and behold *scoffs sarcastically*, I found an Ember on my server; a male, level 16 paladin has my name. But, as I was about to close my browser and hop back in the game, I wanted to know more about this male pally so I clicked the name and the most wonderful error popped up:

"File not found.

This character profile either not does exist, or is temporarily unavailable while the character is transferring between realms or undergoing a name change. Please ensure that the character name was entered correctly. Characters that have been deleted are no longer available on the Armory."

Before I got my hopes up and scrambled to pay the $10 for a name change right then and there, I contacted GM in-game:

"I'd like to change the name of one of my characters (Emberjackal on Daggerspine Realm.) I've looked up the name I want (Ember) on wowarmory.com and there is a character already with that name on Daggerspine, BUT when I click the link to see its profile, it says that "the profile does not exist" or he is "undergoing a name change or pending realm transfer."

So, my question is, how do I know if that name will actually be available when I opt to purchase a name-change"

Their response in an email to me:

"We were able to make this name available for use by your request, please understand that this is a special circumstance and the GM department may not be able to intervene with such an issue in the future. We appreciate your understanding, and i'm glad that your request could be granted. Best of luck! "

I jumped for joy, busted out my credit card, and did the name-change dance! And now Emberjackal of Daggerspine is simply Ember... Flame Warden Ember. Heh heh.