The Mubarak supporters also chanted that they were not being paid to stand there, which only served to strengthen suspicions that they were, as did the uniformity of their statements. Each spouted the same sentence practically verbatim about how the Tahrir demonstrators were only a fraction of Egypt’s 85 million or so people.

Some Egyptians decry the attention focused on the issue, calling it superficial given the far more serious problems the country faces, ranging from the direction of the revolution to the brewing economic crisis. Sherif Hafez, a political science professor, for example, argued that removing the name was considerably less important than the more profound task of changing the mentality that allowed one man to dominate the country for nearly 30 years.

Cataloging every public use of the Mubarak name would require an effort not unlike constructing the Pyramids. It was plastered across schools, libraries, hospitals, clinics, bridges, roads, squares, airports, stadiums, ministry buildings, industrial complexes, dormitories, scouting centers and various national prizes. You name it.

The Ministry of Education reported that 549 schools had been named after either the president, his wife, Suzanne, or their son Gamal. The president was the namesake for 388 schools, compared to 314 for the three previous presidents combined.

Some children seeking an excuse to avoid school have hit on a corker — refusing to attend classes in any building bearing the Mubarak name, said one lawyer joining the lawsuit this week, arguing that speed was of the essence.

Naturally, all sorts of government branches and individuals have taken matters into their own hands. Newspapers report countless changes. The governor of Assiut ordered the name of “The Suzanne Mubarak School for Girls” changed to “The January 25th School for Girls.” The president of Zagazig University in the Nile delta ordered the name of the Mubarak University City dormitory complex changed to Tahrir Square. In the port of Damietta, workers protested until the Mubarak Petrochemical Complex was rebranded the Free Industrial Zone.

Gigi Ibrahim was about to inaugurate a free speech program at the American University in Cairo when the name etched in gold across a heavy beige marble plaque hanging outside the hall stopped her in her tracks: H. E. Suzanne Mubarak Conference Hall.