In yesterday’s New York Times, Louise Story writes on the “new” banks that have emerged during the American financial crisis. From Ally to Redneck (we aren’t joking) the banks are simply renamed versions of older banks. Ally is the lender formally GMAC and the American International Group, which owns A.I.U. Redneck is the new name for the online arm of plain old Bank of the Wichitas.

Story writes, some banks are working hard to polish their images. GMAC Bank, by dint of its name and the billions of bailout dollars that GMAC has received, smacks of Detroit and the tumble-down car industry. So in May the company rechristened its online bank Ally, as in friend.

What will “rechristening” mean for these older banks. Will customers be won by the warm and fuzzy advertising campaigns, the “friendly” approach with banking–or have the wounds inflicted on the economy by the banks make for an even harder sell?