The name that this character had on WrA since 2011 has been locked down by a Worgen DK on MG for as long as I’ve had the character. Despite that I’ve been regularly checking the armory since ~2014, and the character in question hasn’t been visible through an armory search since 2015 (7 years!!!), the name has never been freed up. It’s now been 4 years since I transferred this character and I just want his original name back 
The Battle.net account that includes the character with that name would need to be inactive for two expansion cycles. The fact that it hasn’t been released in ~10 years would tend to indicate that hasn’t been the case.
Edit - The Battle.net account, not just the WoW account, needs to be inactive.
https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/000010958
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If the person who has this character has an active account the name will not be released. A character doesn’t have to be played, just the account has to be active.
I personally delete my characters if I decide to leave a realm behind, but some people keep their characters on a realm just in case they decide to return.
Short answer? Maybe never as long as the account is active.
It depends on the account, Ibirejan. The general timeline to release any name is approximately 2 expansions, but it is based on account activity, not character activity. If the account has been active, even if the character with the name you want hasn’t been accessed in that time, it is still considered active and won’t have the name freed up.
Edit: Just for clarify, the account that holds that name on Moon Guard (that your Paladin had on Wyrmrest Accord) is very much active. Sorry.
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I see. There’s nothing to be done even if the name was specifically locked down on a character that was never intended to be used? I recall, back when I could still see the character on the armory, that it never changed from being a fresh level 58 DK
If not I’ve reached out on the MG forum for the holder, since I guess that’s my only option otherwise
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Only thing u can do is try to contact the player that owns the name and see if hell delete the toon but it would be a month before it becomes available and even then its a first come first serve. Blizzard also wont contact the player in question.
I’m not sure how you would be able to tell that, but from what I can see the character is level 55, and not a Death Knight.
No, I’m afraid there is nothing more that you’d really be able to do. The goal is to release names from accounts that have become inactive, we don’t want to simply take names away from people because they aren’t actively using them. If a person claimed a name they have the right to them, outside of the above conditions where they go inactive for a long period of time.
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If the specific character is active, why has it not been visible on the armory for years? Up until WoD, every time I searched the name, it turned up as a level 58 Worgen DK. Then it stopped coming up entirely.
Either way, solution marked.
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I didn’t say the specific character was active, just that the name is held by a level 55 character and isn’t a Death Knight. I’m not sure why you saw a DK, previously, but it’s possible they deleted that character at some point and remade it. Either way, good luck.
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