Just transferred a character between accounts… With the correct spelling of the name Herod. Upon arrival, Was flagged for a name change, And couldn’t select the name He literally had moments before. In the past, I’ve asked GMs if the name was taken, to the answer " No ", Yet the name is still " unavailable " no matter the Server i’m on. I probably will never get a straight answer on the true nature of its shadowban, But being a student of theology, It makes Me sick to think it was stopped by some sjw tryhard. I don’t just want the name back, I want a proper answer as to why its blocked. I want to know the Blizzard Employee who thought it " was a bad image "
Then if you’ve read the naming rules you already know the answer.
Herod is the name of a well known NPC in game. The simplest way to put it is that naming policies forbid us from using names of established characters in the wow universe, as well as names from other IP’s both owned by blizzard and not.
It’s not usually enforced, and in the past they didn’t have restrictions in the actual naming box when making a character or using a service that triggered a name change. However in recent years the client has been updated with the naming rules in place to prevent the naming policies from being broken before they potentially require the attention of a GM, which is why it shows as unavailable now.
It’s important to note that if you force your way around the restricted name, such as you’ve done with this character, and you are flagged for a name change at some point through the report system, it’s possible there may be some penalties applied to your account depending on the mood of the GM who reviews the case.
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That means People named " Thrall " or " Illidan " are in a constant state of requiring a name change? While i think Herod is somewhat well known, I don’t think this is about His prestige in Warcrafts Lore… Or as the face of the franchise. It makes more sense to Me, That its flagged in the same manner as the word " God " is when making a character.
" Heres a list of words that may upset People, And it goes in the pile "
Technically, yes. But Blizzard doesn’t have dedicated people going around looking for inappropriate names, they rely solely on the in game reports. If enough reports are received, then it is looked into.
As far as this goes, without trying to sound rude because I’m certainly not trying to be, it doesn’t really matter what you think of Herod’s prestige in this context. Regardless of anyone’s perception of him, he is an established lore character. The difference between Herod and VanCleef for example vs. Thrall or Illidan are only that they were never meant to be main characters.
Something can be said about the convoluted rules of the naming system for sure, but they’re intentionally written to be vague so that they can interpret them as they wish, and add or change things on a whim. The best we can do as players is to keep track of the definite “known” violations throughout the years in the rare cases that something official was said. 
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If the answer is vague or arbitrary, For the sake of doing whatever You want, Yeah… That’s how every Corporation works.
The Question still remains as to why they want the original spelling of Their " established Lore characters " to remain unused to the majority of players… Even though theres 40+ Thralls and over 100 Jainas out there. You can’t use the name again, But if they already exist its cool?
Thats insane. They can’t even string a sentence together to explain why, Either? Because now, its intriguing. Its gone from wanting the name i’ve had for over a decade and assuming this was some petty " remove bad historical figure " fiasco… To whatever this is.
Im gunna go ahead and guess… One of the legal team talked to a dev, And on a whim, They half-heartedly made a decree, That " No one can use important IP Names ". There was probably a question " Should we force name changes then??? " … and They said " No ". It was never brought up again, And was never officially given a reason, Because Blizzard.
um wasn’t it king Herod who drowned 2,000 male children? That’s probably why. (also why are 2 month old threads in latest?)