How do I restore original file naming on an import

Question

Through a process of idiocy and confusion, I've ended up with TWO creation dates on my files, e.g. 20140112-20140112-Johnny at the beach.  I tried the step back, step back, step back system, or "undo, undo" but that didn't succeed.  I've tried creating a new catalogue to re-import the photos from iPhoto, but I've mislaid the File Renaming Panel that my Lightroom tutor's handout mentions as being on the right-hand side of the screen.  I can only see Histogram and Keyword list. 
When I try and rename the files individually, I don't get an option to merely remove one of the 201401112 key strings, I get a series of checkboxes. 
I know I've done wrong, but I want to undo it and not make it worse.  I'm scared that if I restore original settings, I'll delete all of my images - all 1400+ of them!
Anyone who can give a solution gets a lovely cake.

Answer 1

I suggest you stop Re-Naming your images on import and place them in folders by the date they were shot. Lightroom can do that for you on import from card or camera or you can do it yourself manually before you import them into LR. You could also put the Sub-folders by date in a top level folder by year or just in one folder named whatever you like.
Not sure why people Re-Name their images when copying them from the card/camera to their hard drive. To me that makes no sense at all. If I have images that I want to separate from others I will manually re-name them and or assign a keyword or rating to them. You can also have collections of images by subject, location, date or whatever you like and those collections can be from any folder imported into LR.
The only time I would even think about re-naming images on import, and or copying to my hard drive, is if I have 2 identical cameras. Which I have in the past. But even then I changed the file naming in the camera having one cameras files start with 1 and the other start with 2