Curious what happens when an HN user inevitably wants their dead-name changed but retain their history, and whether that would be a harder path to march than being deleted for privacy reasons.

I don't understand the question.

Edit: Thank you for the clarification (reply), I was not aware of the term "dead-name" refering to that. I still am not exactly sure what you are asking though. If a replier wrote the original username in an old reply that was written before the name change? In that extremely rare case, it might cause some confusion if a third person reads the old thread, in which case perhaps the user initiating the name change could use the search function for any instances of that, and then email the HN admin?

There is a high incidence of transgender people in our community. Often, names are changed, the old name is referred to as a dead-name. Addressing someone by this deprecated title is to some, the height of disrespect.

If you email [email protected], they'll change your username for you. (Near the bottom of https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)

All of those comments were written from the perspective of a person who no longer 'exists' tangibly as they've transitioned.

Then perhaps what the transitioning person is looking for, is just creating a new account to go with their new self?

I'm not one of those who are affected, so unfortunately I'm without a sound rebuttal. You do raise a good point. Given that I'm not, someone who is may have more perspective that'd support one assertion vs the other.