I think you totally missed the point of my post. I changed my name to start anew. I don't want people to know me by my old names anymore. If old members I used to talk to come back and don't know who I am, I don't want them to be like "Oh you're TSter/Mezlo, I remember you!" I'd rather they didn't know who I was so we could start from the beginning and get to know each other again. People change, and oftentimes, they don't want the past to be what people know them for.
I understand what you you're getting at now. While I respect that way of thinking I still think it's a little flawed. People change, everyone above the age of six gets that. We drift apart from one another all the time due to changes. A name change isn't going to have a drastic effect at all. You have changed a bit Tristan but obviously you still posses so many traits that remain the same from your start here on the forum.
My views on many users here on this forum have changed dramatically over the years, and all those users didn't need a username change to alter those views.
It's the same when seeing a friend in reality when you haven't seen them in a long while, it will take some time to readjust the friendship, I know full well from experience that they're going to be a little different, but not a totally different person, if we wish, we can use the past as an aid for that readjustment.
I think what you desire is something already do at a young age.
A Link In time for example has probably had the biggest transformation out of anyone here on this forum, I couldn't really care about his past, I appreciate the good and the bad and accept that he was different then than he is now.
A user name change won't change the way people think of you, an attitude change however will. Just look at A Link In Time for a good example of this in effect.
Regardless!
Most people don't change their user name for the reason above, and it's mostly done out of "I want this name now as it sounds cooler than my old name", so perhaps a "hide former name" option would appease both sides.