Instance Name Question

Question

I have a movieclip that is added to the stage in the authoring environment. I gave it an instance name of myInstance.
When I trace the instance name, it gives me Instance12.
Why is that? How can I change the instance name that dropTarget.name returns without removing all my instances from the stage, instantiating them with actionscript, and renaming them then (with 250 instances that have to be in exact pixel locations that would be a huge inconvience bordering on the impossible, especially if I ever have to move even one of them.)
If the dropTarget is another movieclip assigned to a class, is there any way to use dropTarget to access a parameter from within that class? (i.e., dropTarget.myVariable the same way you might use myObject.myVariable)?
Does that make sense?
Thanks!!

Answer 1

I tried this:
            trace (GeoPuzzle(this.dropTarget).abbrev);
But I got this error:
TypeError: Error #1034: Type Coercion failed: cannot convert flash.display::Shape@d25c061 to com.freerangeeggheads.puzzleography.GeoPuzzle.
    at com.freerangeeggheads.puzzleography::GeoPiece/geoPieceEnd()[/Users/Amber/Documents/Apps/P uzzleography/Project/com/freerangeeggheads/puzzleography/GeoPiece.as:51]
When I trace this.dropTarget.parent.name I get the actual instance name of the movie clip on the stage.
Is there a tutorial or something that will explain this heirarchy to me? I don't even know what to google, and navigating Adobe's documenation is like trying to nail jello to a tree. :/