This is exactly how I view my former name (and why I call it a former name, not a "deadname"). When my mother named me, she saw my name as a gift she was giving me. When I chose my own name upon coming out as transmasculine, I kept her gift in mind and tried to give her a gift as well (choosing the first name she would have given another son if she'd had one, plus preserving the meaning of my middle name in my new chosen middle name).