The relevant extract is:
It appears to be coming from ['author']['name'], which comes from thread_author_name.
mysql:research@s3-analytics-slave [mediawikiwiki]> SELECT * FROM thread WHERE thread_author_name = 'Ecliptica' LIMIT 10 \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
thread_id: 9827
thread_root: 74619
thread_ancestor: 0
thread_parent: NULL
thread_summary_page: NULL
thread_subject: Request for username usurpation
thread_author_id: 356821
thread_author_name: Ecliptica
thread_modified: 20120217064238
thread_created: 20111213063956
thread_editedness: 1
thread_article_namespace: 3
thread_article_title: Aaron_Schulz/LQT_Archive_1
thread_article_id: 68659
thread_type: 0
thread_sortkey: 20120217064238
thread_replies: 3
thread_signature: [[User:Ecliptica|Ecliptica]] 06:39, 13 December 2011 (UTC)
*************************** 2. row ***************************
thread_id: 10969
thread_root: 77295
thread_ancestor: 9827
thread_parent: 10841
thread_summary_page: NULL
thread_subject: Request for username usurpation
thread_author_id: 356821
thread_author_name: Ecliptica
thread_modified: 20120217064238
thread_created: 20120114112136
thread_editedness: 1
thread_article_namespace: 3
thread_article_title: Aaron_Schulz/LQT_Archive_1
thread_article_id: 68659
thread_type: 0
thread_sortkey: 20120217064238
thread_replies: 1
thread_signature: [[User:Ecliptica|Ecliptica]]
2 rows in set (0.05 sec)Just for completeness, there are no references in revision:
mysql:research@s3-analytics-slave [mediawikiwiki]> SELECT * FROM revision WHERE rev_user_text = 'Ecliptica' LIMIT 10; Empty set (0.00 sec)
I'm not sure why the thread table has stray references. The fix was in 23460f4d874bdaebf477b333ddea6fe9c2302de3 which was merged in 2009, whereas the rename happened in 2012.
@Legoktm suggested we consider a one-off fix. If so, I will first make sure it works going forward.