The idea of renaming the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park has left us scratching our heads.

Here's a world-class, world-renowned operation (created in the first place as a breeding station to conserve species) deciding to risk years of name recognition to give itself the new ---- and frankly, boring ---- moniker of "San Diego Zoo's Safari Park."

We understand that the word "safari" has an exotic allure to it, that the wonders of the African veldt beckon tourists, yada-yada-yada. But after zoo trustees and staff have spent years and a lot of money building the brand, why would they want to start all over with a new name? And why do it on the basis of comments by some park visitors? (Indeed, park officials said that they had done no market study before they voted on the name change.)

Wild Animal Park Director Bob McClure said no one had studied potential costs involved in the change, although a park spokesman noted that previous name changes hadn't cost a lot directly (e.g., the price of printing new brochures).

The lack of analysis on what the change might cost also signals to us that not all that much thought may have gone into what a name change tells the world. There is a danger in relying on anecdotal evidence from informal interviews with small groups of park visitors.

For instance, in adopting the "safari" image, does that suggest that the park's first priority of conservation is giving way to the theme park attraction?

The last thing we would want to see is for the famed Wild Animal Park's sterling reputation to be tarnished through an unintended connection to facilities featuring animals for the sole purpose of entertaining and amusing visitors.

Second, many parks use the word "safari" ---- Safari Park (Virginia), Lion Country Safari (Florida), High Delta Safari Park (Louisiana), Wildlife Safari (Oregon) African Safari Wildlife Park (Ohio). You get the idea. If people are looking for the Wild Animal Park by searching the Internet for the words "safari park," changing the name to include those words isn't exactly going to make it stand out from the crowd. Why trade the unique for the commonplace when competing for tourism dollars?

To sum up: Changing the focus of the park's attraction to tourists and saddling it with a pedestrian name is what the San Diego Zoo Board of Trustees is bringing about with this unnecessary name change.

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but calling it a geranium won't help your marketing. Or your community relations.