[igorstellar]

it's a privacy feature. I don't want to share my name with someone who doesn't have my contact.

[amarshall]

No, it’s not. The name is still visible, but not on the chat list, only the in-app contact card. Thus it’s an anti-privacy feature as it coerces users share all their contacts with Meta.

[skydhash]

WhatsApp have a name field that is public. It just does not want to use it for the chat list. Or allow you to edit it client side.