The Atlassian Public Name is what displays on any actions performed by you across both the Orange Tracker and Answers cloud applications. By default, a Public Name is not set and the application just uses your first and last name. Any comments, submitted requests, etc. will use this Public Name. However, there are cases such as a name change where to aid in referencing the prior name, that the Public Name is automatically updated to include the name prior to the change. This is the only identity field that is configurable by the user, as it relates to their own Atlassian Account across the Atlassian ecosystem.
Orange Tracker Profile Display
User Picker Hover Display
In both cases, the Joshua Patrick Allen is the Public Name, with Josh Allen being as it is read from our Identity Provider.