The most direct means of querying the existence of a &quot;reserved&quot; Theme name is probably to look in SVN directly; e.g.:<div><br></div><div><a href="http://themes.svn.wordpress.org/vintage">http://themes.svn.wordpress.org/vintage</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>And to the OP&#39;s original point: it is probably at least worth a discussion to consider whether Themes that are submitted, but never approved, should retain a &quot;reserved&quot; name in perpetuity. I would think that two years is more than enough time to re-submit a Theme, if the developer were truly interested in hosting the Theme in the WPORG repository.</div>
<div><br></div><div>If there were a reasonably long duration (I&#39;m thinking at *least* a year), and an automated way to clear out never-approved Themes, I&#39;d be in favor of releasing Theme names back into the wild.</div>
<div><br></div><div>(But as Emil and Cais said: ultimately, this one is Otto&#39;s decision.)</div><div><br></div><div>Chip<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 7:29 AM, Edward Caissie <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:edward.caissie@gmail.com">edward.caissie@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Although Emil is correct, in both Theme names are &quot;reserved&quot; based on a first-come, first-served basis; and, that to make changes to the existing structure would most likely fall to Otto&#39;s hands; but, perhaps an easy to use search tool can be implemented for authors to use to check for a Theme name&#39;s availability?<br>


<br>In the meantime, using a simple Trac query: <a href="http://themes.trac.wordpress.org/query?keywords=~theme-" target="_blank">http://themes.trac.wordpress.org/query?keywords=~theme-</a>&lt;proposed theme name&gt; will provide a list of existing Trac theme names to review. A similar link can be used in Extend as well: <a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/" target="_blank">http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/</a>&lt;proposed theme name&gt;.<br>


<br>Personally, when I am considering a new theme&#39;s name, especially a new Child-Theme, I check both of those queries at the beginning of the project, just in case, as the theme&#39;s name can affect its design aesthetics.<br>


<br><br clear="all">Cais.<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 at 11:20 PM, Emil Uzelac <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:emil@themeid.com" target="_blank">emil@themeid.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">


<font color="#333333"><font><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">...you&#39;re not I should of read better. This is up to Otto, however I don&#39;t think that this is possible. First for technical reasons and second it&#39;s first-come, first-served :)</font></font></font><span><font color="#888888"><div>




<font color="#333333"><font><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></font></font></font></div></font></span><div><span><font color="#888888"><font color="#333333"><font><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Emil<br>


</font></font></font></font></span><div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">

On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 at 10:15 PM, Emil Uzelac <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:emil@themeid.com" target="_blank">emil@themeid.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">




<font color="#333333"><font><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Are you the author of the Theme that was not approved?<br></font></font></font><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div>On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 at 10:14 PM, John Brown <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:solitaryman88@hotmail.com" target="_blank">solitaryman88@hotmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>





</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div><div class="gmail_quote"><span dir="ltr"></span>Hi;<br><span lang="en"><span>I designed</span> <span>a new</span> <span>theme</span><span>.</span></span><span lang="en"><span> My theme name is a &quot;Vintage&quot;. But the</span> <span>name</span> <span>seems</span> <span>not appropriate</span><span>.<br>







</span></span><div style="margin-left:40px"><blockquote style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote"><span lang="en"><span>Theme Upload Page Message :</span></span><br>







<span lang="en"><span>(<a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/upload/" target="_blank">http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/upload/</a>)</span></span><br><span lang="en"><span>There is already a theme called &#39;vintage&#39; by a different author. Please change the name of your theme in style.css and upload it again.</span></span><br>







</blockquote><span lang="en"><span></span></span></div><span lang="en"><span><br></span></span><span lang="en"><span>This theme has</span> <span>been sent</span> <span>two</span> <span>years ago</span><span>. </span></span><span lang="en"><b><span>Is it possible to</span> <span>delete</span> <span>this theme</span></b><span><b>?</b> Because this theme old dated and not approved.</span></span> Thanks.<br>







<span lang="en"><span>Ticket info:</span></span><br><span lang="en"><span><a href="http://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/483" target="_blank">Ticket #483</a> (closed theme: not-approved) - Opened 20 months ago.<br>
<br></span></span>
</div><br>
<br></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>
theme-reviewers mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:theme-reviewers@lists.wordpress.org" target="_blank">theme-reviewers@lists.wordpress.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers" target="_blank">http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br>
</blockquote></div><br></div></div></div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
theme-reviewers mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:theme-reviewers@lists.wordpress.org" target="_blank">theme-reviewers@lists.wordpress.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers" target="_blank">http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br>
</div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
theme-reviewers mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:theme-reviewers@lists.wordpress.org">theme-reviewers@lists.wordpress.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers" target="_blank">http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br></div>