Can you have 2 active directory domains with the same netbios domain name trust each other

If you use a DOMAIN LOCAL group, you'll be able to add the users from both domains to the one group.

Better still, add a Global/Universal group from the BRANCH domain (and the same from the CENTRAL domain) to the Domain Local group:

CENTRAL DOMAIN
SPECIAL GROUP
CENTRAL\Alice
CENTRAL\Bob

BRANCH DOMAIN
SPECIAL GROUP
BRANCH\Carol
BRANCH\dave

CENTRAL DOMAIN
JOINT DOMAIN LOCAL GROUP
CENTRAL\Special Group
BRANCH\Special Group

That way, adding new members to the JOINT group just means adding them to the global group within their domain.

I think I figured it out. Using ADSI Edit you can look at properties on an object (e.g., a user), but by default it was filtering out "constructed" attributes. Using the Filter button at the bottom right of the properties screen I was able to show these additional attributes.

The "msDS-PrincipalName" appears to have "[netbios domain name]\[sAMAccountName]" as its value.

If I go into AD Users and Computers and change the "User logon name" from "gwasington@test.kirkdev.local" to "gwash2ington@test.kirk2dev.local" this affects the "userPrincipalName" attribute, but not the "msDS-PrincipalName" attribute. This is good in my case, because my other system (SharePoint) does not recognize this change either.

If I go into AD Users and Computers and change the "User logon name (pre-Windows 2000)" from "KIRKDEV\gwashington" to "KIRKDEV\g2washington" (note, that I cannot change the first part) this does not affect the "userPrincipalName" attribute, but does affect the "msDS-PrincipalName" attribute. This is exactly what I want because my other system (SharePoint) does recognize this change.

Side Note: I said SharePoint does recognize the change, but that is only if the user has never logged into that SharePoint site collection before. Once the user has logged into the SharePoint site collection, the tp_Login field in the UserInfo table is set with the "msDS-PrincipalName" value and that does not seem to change. So, I may have to find a way to force that to be changed or just say that this scenario is not supported.