Dion.H, if you haven't installed a font yet, you can just right-click -> rename the file. If you want to rename fonts that have already been installed, that's trickier, but not impossible. NEVER rename a font in your installed fonts folder, it will be corrupted in the process. What you can do is open a Search Window, and browse for the directory C:\Windows*\Fonts, (*or whatever the name is for your operating system folder), and don't specify any file name or type, just the search location. The results should list all of your installed fonts. For the ones you want to rename, copy the files from the search results, and paste them into another folder. Rename the files, delete the copies that are currently installed, then cut/paste the renamed versions back into your installed fonts folder to reinstall them.

There are a few fonts you can't change in this manner. Tahoma, with Windows XP, is the standard display font, so it can't be uninstalled even momentarily. I don't know if you have a different display font for Windows 7, but if you do, you wouldn't be able to change it, either. You also won't be able to rename Microsoft Sans Serif, or the font currently selected in Notepad. As far as I know, you should be able to rename any others.

Now, if what you want to do is change the font name, not the file name, that can also be done, but I'm not going to tell you how.

Dion H, font designers don't want to let you do this to their fonts. What you want to do has been abused many times in the past, where someone takes an existing font, changes only its name and the copyright information, then tries to pass it off as an original work, or recreation. When fonts have multiple weights, (bold, italic, bold italic, light, black, etc.), and were properly made, the font will appear only once in the installed fonts list for the app you're using, and the non Regular weights are accessed through the formatting tools. So, the answer to the question 'is there a freeware app that does this kind of renaming in a batch?' is No, it's a complex process in which each font would have to be renamed separately, and other things would have to be done, as well. Other designers would have my head if I gave you instructions on how to do it. It would be like if a Magician told the public how card and disappearing coin tricks work. If you need to know how to do it, you'll already know how.

the apostrophe is different

Thanks very much for your answers I also found Swansea on the fontface website is pretty good.