The latest updates to allow renaming plugins take care of all of this. Between dropping a bunch of FX bins and assigning short plug-in names my projects have become much easier to read (no need to mouse over fx and send names to figure out what is the plugin). Also it is easier to assign sends because names in the select list are so much shorter.
 
Thanks for the updates

I've found renaming synths in the the plug in manager doesn't transfer to the track names when you add the synth. I've not tried with FX though

davisb24
The latest updates to allow renaming plugins take care of all of this. Between dropping a bunch of FX bins and assigning short plug-in names my projects have become much easier to read (no need to mouse over fx and send names to figure out what is the plugin). Also it is easier to assign sends because names in the select list are so much shorter.
 
Thanks for the updates

Can you elaborate on this? I'm still not seeing plugin names (FabFilter specifically) persisting in the FX bin. I'll rename the plugin in my plugin manager and also under plugin properties, but although the renamed version ("Pro Q-2" instead of "FabFilter Pro Q-2") does show up correctly in the browser (which it always has done), it still shows up as "FabFilter Pro Q-2" in the FX bin.
 
Previously there was a known issue with VST3 so I'm assuming that still hasn't been remedied? Are you able to rename VST3 plugins and see the new name in the FX bin? Or is it only working with VST-VST2 plugins?

You may have to restart SONAR to pickup the changes. I right click on the FX in the plugin manager window and rename in the first text box. After renaming them and restarting SONAR the new shorter names start showing in bins and send drop-down menus as expected for me.  This is working with both VST2 and VST3 plugins.
 
The only other thing I can think to try is verify you are on the latest version. Maybe the install didn't complete all the way? 

davisb24
You may have to restart SONAR to pickup the changes. I right click on the FX in the plugin manager window and rename in the first text box. After renaming them and restarting SONAR the new shorter names start showing in bins and send drop-down menus as expected for me.  This is working with both VST2 and VST3 plugins.
 
The only other thing I can think to try is verify you are on the latest version. Maybe the install didn't complete all the way? 

Nope, not working for me. I open the plugin manager, and in the middle pane are all of the plugins for a given type (VST, VST3, etc.). I can't right click on anything in that middle pane, but if I select a plugin and click on plugin properties, it opens a window where I can change the name. Likewise, from the plugin layout menu on the right, I can right-click any plugin and select "rename". But no matter what, the full name always shows up in the FX bin.
 
The layout displays the shortened version, but it always reverts back to the "stock" name in the FX bin. When I open up the plugin manager again, the name has changed back to its original state. I've tried this with both iZotope and FabFilter plugins. No go.
 
Not the end of the world, but frustrating, since I use FabFilter & iZotope plugins frequently, often multiple instances in one bin. 
 
But those Waves plugins are named nicely. Just show up as CLA-76, API 550B, etc. <Sigh>

And yeah, I just updated to the newest version (2016.09) today. I'd been on 2016.06 until today, so this is the first time I've tried renaming plugins in several months. I didn't get any errors during the install and everything else is there (load balancing, freezing quick group tracks, etc.) so I'm assuming all's good on the installation front.
 

Ok, I misspoke. I am not renaming the plugins in the plugin editor.  I am renaming them in the Plugins tab of the Browser in the main window (hot key B). Right-click the plugin and a small modal window pops up with two fields and an OK button. Hope you can get this to work, it is really nice to be able to rename these.

Hmm.  When I right-click on any plugins in the browser nothing happens, no window pops out. It does pop out if I right-click on any MIDI FX, but not with any audio effects or virtual instruments.

Never mind. :) Turns out I should've read the e-Zine more closely. Apparently in order to access that properties menu you have to sort by category first. (Mine had defaulted to my custom layout.) But once I did that, the pop-up was there and I renamed the plugins to my heart's content. 
 
Such a seemingly small feature, but man. It's awesome finally being able to do this. :)