Network interfaces aren't files, so you can't create symlinks to them. I don't think linux has a facility for referring to a network interface by more than one name.

My hope is that consumer distributions will stop presenting the device name and configuration at all. When I'm trying to show new Ubuntu users how to connect to wired and wireless networks, it's annoying to have to explain what NetworkManager means by "Auto eth0".

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+b...

I certainly hope so. There's just way too honking much literature out there oriented on ethX to simply make ethX go away.