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Originally Posted by AZed
If you don't invoke the clause that prevents someone else from using your name, someone else can release a version of your code with many improvements, but also using exactly the same name.
So far so good, but if that person then also invokes the clause preventing derivative works from using the name he released with (i.e. the original name of your project), then you will be in violation if you use any of his changes in your own code unless you use a different name. I.e. at that point you are forced to rename your project to use the improvements to your own code.
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I don't know, I think you may be giving those section provisions a bit too much force. The section 7 portion you mention says
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Prohibiting misrepresentation of the origin of that material, or requiring that modified versions of such material be marked in reasonable ways as different from the original version
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Given that you are the original source of both the codebase and the name, I can't believe that someone would find requiring you to change project names a "reasonable way" to prevent misrepresentation of the original material.
I guess it all goes back to the idea that other people can make changes to the code license later on. Whether they're adding an exception or choosing to move to a later version of the GPL (assuming your code has the "or later" option), you could be faced with changing your license to accept other people's work. You never need to take their contributions though, and even without 7(c) you probably have trademark claims against their use of the name if they have truly forked the project.
Just my community-member non-lawyer two cents.