Item name was never suitable as a key... It's not stable. There are natural keys, they are just very rare. And the thing is even when you think you've got one it is often better to err conservatively. A good anti-example is SSN, often used in text books. They do change. Other than DNA sequences I can't think of a good person key. Just use an internal surrogate and be done with it.
> Other than DNA sequences I can't think of a good person key.
In theory, one could use 3D geoposition at time of birth, time of birth, and sibling order (for twins / triplets / etc delivered surgically), where said order is dictated by the parent(s) or ob/gyn present. Of course, the main problem with this in practice is that not everybody has this information.
I would have said you could do something via retinal imagery, but not everybody has eyes. If we had non-invasive neural imagery, would it maybe be possible to derive a key from a simplification of a person's physical brain topology?
In a some countries national ID numbers are good primary keys, but that's only when they're designed (and used internally) as such by governments. e.g. Finnish, French, or Israeli ID numbers. Even then, though, using them limits you to people who are in the system - no dealing with international customers, for example.
At least in Finland, national ID can change in some cases, e.g. when you change your legal gender or if it's repeatedly misused by someone else (like in identify theft scenario).
