Simply put, there is a name that I want but it is already taken. Understandable, but the problem is that the name in question is on a character that has never been logged in, ever. It simply does not exist on the lodestone, but the name is valid because it is in use on other servers. It was reserved, and will likely stay that way forever, unless...
it's actually more likely that this name is blocked, not taken.

I could not use the name "Alhanalem" because the name contains the sequence of characters 'anal' within it. The message for the name being taken is no different as far as I'm aware.