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Why wouldn't they be? Twitter culture is frequently about changing names. Many people just changed their display names to "spooky" Halloween versions.

The handle is the id, not the display names.

Plus, Twitter could easy make the check mark link out to a profile page explaining who the person is.

Consider this: how is changing your profile name _in the wake of removing verification_ not speech?

You know that Elon Musk (who has of course had a verified profile for some time) has changed his displayname in the past right?

To "Elona" https://www.newsweek.com/why-elon-musk-changed-his-name-elon...

To "Lord Edge" https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2021/11/08/elon-musk...

...and probably some others.

Alright. That doesn't answer my question though -- why should anyone with a verified profile be allowed to change their name, which could mislead people of their identity, while maintaining their verification status?

Because going forward the only thing the verified badge will be verifying is that twitter was able to charge your credit card $8 within the last month.