The main problem that can arise when you change the names of trust level groups is that members will get confused who try to understand what the trust levels mean and where they stand. It can also cause you to get confused yourself as site owner, if you change the name and then don’t remember how the new name corresponds with trust level settings. This is why I tend to recommend not tinkering with the trust level names.
Changing the badge names associated with trust levels is fine. I did this on my personal site too.. I changed “Leader” to “Inner Circle”.
But of course every community has its own personality and needs, and Discourse is flexible and can be customized accordingly. Looks like Dan has figured it all out and has come up with some great trust level names! 
Are you referring to badge sql? We do turn it on for our enterprise customers. I agree it’s a shame we can’t offer it on our self-serve hosting because of security concerns. Would be great to revisit this and explore ways to make it safer - do start a new topic when you find the time.