For a Big East by another name, questions abound. Will “Big” remain part of it? With multiple regions in a remade conference that do not add up to national scope, what, if anything, about the universities will the name try to convey?

And, of course, something as amorphous as Conference USA is already taken.

“The geographic element has been turned on its head,” McIntyre said. “You don’t want to be overly committed to the intrinsic DNA of the schools remaining and those who would potentially join because they change. You don’t want to limit the evergreen nature that every brand builder wants to build into this exercise. You want the name to be impenetrable to change.”

The corporate world has witnessed the type of name-changing that the Big East will face. Datsun became Nissan. Esso morphed into Exxon. Andersen Consulting turned into Accenture. The World Wrestling Federation turned into World Wrestling Entertainment.

And the N.B.A.’s New Orleans Hornets will soon be rechristened the Pelicans.

Once upon a time, the Big East made perfect sense when the athletic directors of Providence, St. John’s, Georgetown, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Boston College and Connecticut gathered in 1979 to form the conference.

“One of the great misnomers about the name of the Big East, which has been written through the years, is that Dave and I hired a P.R. agency and it came up with the name,” said Mike Tranghese, a former Big East commissioner, referring to Dave Gavitt, the conference’s first commissioner. That September, he said, “we met with the track coaches who recommended the Big East name.”

He added: “I like the name. It’s recognizable to fans and it’s a marketing tool. But the name means more to the basketball group because of the history of the league. I think the Catholic schools could use it.”