Hi Stephanie,
Are you using an administrator account when you try to rename them?
From Windows 'Help and support':
To change the name of a printer you must have the permit 'Manage
printers,' which is one of the diverse printer permits.
Open printers and faxes
Right click on the printer whose name you want to change
Click on 'Changing name'
Type the new name
Notes
In the name of printers you can use letters, numbers, spaces and some
punctuation signs. In the name of the printers you cannot use these
characters: \:/*?"><|
"You can also change the name of a printer if you click on a printer
and then click on 'Change the name of this printer' in the task pane,
on the left side of the window. This option is only available if the
folders are configured as web pages and there is a selected printer."
To make a printer available to other network users, simply click the
Sharing tab, select Share This Printer, and provide a share name.
Windows XP permits spaces and other characters in printer names, but
if you’re going to share with users of other operating systems, you
should observe the following restrictions:
-- Use only letters and numbers; don’t use spaces, punctuation, or
special characters.
-- The entire Universal Naming Convention (UNC) name, including the
requisite backslashes and your computer name, should be 31 or fewer
characters. For example,assume that your computer name is YELLOWSTONE
(11 characters). When you add slashes, the length becomes 14
characters, meaning that the share name should be 17 characters or
less. This results in a UNC name something like
\\YELLOWSTONE\HPLASERJET4000.
Networking How-to Resources
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/itsolutions/howto/nethow.asp
Good luck, hope this helps
