A guild member is trying to give me a name they no longer use but it appears to be locked to their account even after deletion. Is there any way for that person to unlock the character name so that I can use it?
Character names are locked to the original Blizzard Account for a varying number of days determined by the level of the character that had it-- either 0, 30, or 90 days.
You’ll have to inquire with that person to determine that level and compare it to the Support article, and then wait that number of days until the name is freed up for ANYONE to grab, so you’ll have to act fast.
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The short answer is no. There is no way for that person or Customer support to remove the name from a reserved list. As Ekon said, how long it is there depends on how the character name was removed.
If the character was level 30+ and they deleted or transferred it to another realm, that name would be placed on a reserved list where only they have access to it for 30 days.
If they used a name change service, or other service that granted a name change, the name is then held for 90 days.
At the end of the reserved period the name will become available again for the first person to claim it.
If your guildmate wants to hold onto it for you, they should create a level 1 character that they can then delete after the cooldown is up (preferably not leveling it). 
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Wait, that last part. If they create a level 1 character and never log in, wait the 30 days, if they delete that level 1 the name will become available instantly?
Unsure if it matters but this is on WoW classic, though the current character is still under 30. But if I’m understanding what you’re saying that sounds like a workable solution.
I didn’t say they could never log in, I said they should avoid leveling it. If they level it to 30 you would be in the same situation. Otherwise, yes, if the character is under level 30, the name should free up immediately when deleted (assuming the name is already off of cooldown).
Classic may have different parameters, I am not certain. I don’t believe it does, but I haven’t tested it myself so I won’t say I am 100% on that.
What do you mean the current character? Is your guildmate currently holding the name with a new character that is under 30?
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My guild mate has a mid 20s mage currently with the name that he got when classic first launched. He attempted deleting the mage today but I was unable to take the name despite it being under level 30. We found information that names locked for approx 30 or 90 days but I was unsure if those were exact times, or at 7AM every day, or at server downtime or what, so him deleting it and me setting a reminder for 30 days later seems likely to result in us losing that name.
My only experience with this was holding a name for my wife during the early name reserve period before classic launch, when I was able to delete the character and the name instantly became available.
But yes, currently the name is on a character under level 30 but still appears locked to his account, as he was able to create a new character with the name after our attempt to pass it to me failed.
I’ll have to check if the cap is different for Classic, but I likely won’t hear anything for a day or so. I’ll update this thread when I find out.
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Thank you very much for your help!
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Just to touch on this part. Internal system cooldowns are to the second.
So for example if there is a 30 day CD from this moment (current UTC time is: 03:52:00 A.M. on 3 MARCH 2021). Then the time for that 30 day CD to end would be 03:52:00 A.M. on 2 APRIL 2021.
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Hey Ashilde, as far as I’ve been able to find out it should function the same way. The folks who would know the system to be 100% are a little preoccupied at the moment so it might take a bit for me to hear back.
That said, I did a little digging so I could find the character you were referring to. It seems they told you that the character was 42, not in their mid 20’s, though maybe you transposed the numbers and thought it was 24?
I checked and confirmed that it was a level 42 Gnome Mage. There is currently a level 1 character holding that name, so in about 29 days, they should be able to delete that character to free up the name for you.
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Thank you very much for digging through that info to clear up my misunderstanding. I’ll set a reminder for 30 days from now to try again. I appreciate all your help in this matter.
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