coming back into the game and I see the old item isn't used for name changing anymore. So how do you get the loyalty username totem? is that the only way to do it?

You can also go to your Dashboard (under the 'Personal' dropdown menu), there should be a link to change your username at the top, to the side of your current username. It costs 1,000 CSC, but also, if you've been here a few years, if you just go to the Dashboard page you should be awarded any Loyalty Boxes you may not have collected yet, and you can get the token from that.

Thanks so much :)