>Right -- note that you said "file name".  But as I pointed out, file 
>names are in directories, and the timestamps are in i-nodes, which 
>leaves the question of link() (and, later on, rename(), though that's a 
>relatively recent addition) problematic.

i think a timestamp that was set when the inode was allocated would
probably satisfy this curiosity.  consider this (and assume that itime
is the inode allocation time):

    [1]% command-1 > /tmp/foo
    [2]% command-2 > /tmp/foo
    [3]% echo foo | dd of=/tmp/foo conv=notrunc
    [4]% cat /tmp/foo > /dev/null
    [5]% touch /tmp/foo
    [6]% rm /tmp/foo
    [7]% command-3 > /tmp/foo

after [1]: ctime == 1, mtime == 1, atime == 1, itime == 1 (creation)
after [2]: ctime == 2, mtime == 2, atime == 1, itime == 1 (truncate, modify)
after [3]: ctime == 2, mtime == 3, atime == 1, itime == 1 (modify only)
after [4]: ctime == 2, mtime == 3, atime == 4, itime == 1 (access)
after [5]: ctime == 5, mtime == 5, atime == 5, itime == 1 (change inode)
after [6]: file does not exist so inode is deallocated
after [7]: ctime == 7, mtime == 7, atime == 7, itime == 7 (creation)

the question of how long a particular filename has referred to a
specific inode would have to be addressed at the directory entry
level, and would probably not be very helpful.  imho.

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