#56312: Ignore an empty name query variable on static front pages

[SamuelHadsall]

An empty name query variable prevents WP_Query from converting the
main query into the configured static front-page query. As a result,
/?name displays the posts page instead of the static front page.

This change ignores name when its value is an empty string, matching
the existing handling for an empty pagename query variable. Non-empty
post-name queries remain unchanged.

A regression test has been added for the empty name query variable.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/56312

Testing

• npm run test:php -- --filter test_page_on_front_with_empty_name_query_var
• npm run test:php -- --group query
  • 1,894 tests and 4,426 assertions passed
• git diff --check

Use of AI Tools

AI assistance: Yes
Tool(s): ChatGPT
Model(s): GPT-5 (Codex)
Used for: Local environment troubleshooting, tracing the relevant query
handling, proposing the regression test, and reviewing the resulting
changes. I manually applied and reviewed the changes and ran the relevant
test suite.

[github-actions]

The following accounts have interacted with this PR and/or linked issues. I will continue to update these lists as activity occurs. You can also manually ask me to refresh this list by adding the props-bot label.

Core Committers: Use this line as a base for the props when committing in SVN:

Props samuelhadsall.

To understand the WordPress project's expectations around crediting contributors, please review the Contributor Attribution page in the Core Handbook.

[github-actions]

Test using WordPress Playground

The changes in this pull request can previewed and tested using a WordPress Playground instance.

WordPress Playground is an experimental project that creates a full WordPress instance entirely within the browser.

Some things to be aware of

• All changes will be lost when closing a tab with a Playground instance.
• All changes will be lost when refreshing the page.
• A fresh instance is created each time the link below is clicked.
• Every time this pull request is updated, a new ZIP file containing all changes is created. If changes are not reflected in the Playground instance,
  it's possible that the most recent build failed, or has not completed. Check the list of workflow runs to be sure.

For more details about these limitations and more, check out the Limitations page in the WordPress Playground documentation.

Test this pull request with WordPress Playground.