Im not sure what you mean....
Do you mean, if you change the mod's filename, will it effect how it is loaded into the game. In my opinion yes it will, simply because by changing the name, the game recognises it as a different mod, while all the ID's will be the same, it will all be reset as the original mod they are from is no longer being loaded.
OR
Do you mean, can you change an NPC's name without changing it's baseID? in that case no. If you edit a baseID form by going through the reference in the CS when you save the edits you can save it as a new baseID and that reference gets the new baseID.