A comment in your [1] link points at https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/1952#issuecomment-171432314 https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issu

A comment in your [1] link points at https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/1952#issuecomment-171432314 https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/1952#issuec... which explains why device names are immutable. > The reason of this restriction is pretty important: we want people to be able to think of devices by name - say, when seeing them in a list, or when talking about them - and never have to think about key fingerprints or id's. The only way to achieve this safely is to make a device<->name map immutable and global, using the sig chain. Otherwise there are endless caveats and visual explanations needed showing the evolution of a device name over time. > Consider: if an intruder steals one or more of your keys and starts doing crap to your sig chain, they still can't change the definition of "iphone6s-white". It is set in stone, which is crucial to maintain the abstraction that "iphone6s-white" is a certain key. I agree that it sucks to have your device name become permanently unusable; I've hit this myself a few times, and it's mildly annoying to find that I have to pick a new device name in Keybase even though my local name for the device hasn't changed. But removing this restriction opens up a security vulnerability.