Well I think the public does care. And I think that having a name that brings up some sort of vivid picture in the mind's eye, helps with marketing and merchandising (sp?). For example, a park opens a corkscrew called "Turn of the Century" in 1976. Well at that point in time, not many people had been safely upside down on a coaster, so to them, it was "the turn of the century". More modern, hanging coasters called "The Bat" and "Batman: The ride", since bats hang, it fits in with the ride. Plus, in the case of B:TR, the character is already pretty popular. And the most recent one I think is Millennium Force. While the ride would still be pretty amazing my another name, with the y2k thing already buzzing, this gave CP a much better marketing foothold than calling the coaster "Gus" or something like that.
jeremy