dispute involving Hillary Rodham Clinton offers a rare twist. This time the two sides are arguing over what to call themselves.

The case filed with the Supreme Court this week is titled "Office of the President vs. Office of Independent Counsel.'' But Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr does not like the title; he wants to be known as "the United States.'' He wrote a letter to the court clerk, complete with footnotes, to explain why.

What is in a name, anyway? Some people believe language is power, and at the Supreme Court, case titles live forever. Brown vs. Board of Education is the 1954 ruling that outlawed racial segregation in public schools; the 1973 decision that legalised abortion in the US will always be known as Roe vs.

Wade. The high court is weeks away from saying whether it will review a lower court order that would give Whitewater investigators access to White House lawyers' notes from their conversations with Mrs. Clinton. The White House contends its lawyers' notes are protected by attorney-client privilege.

Before the merits of the request were considered, court officials had to resolve the title skirmish.

The case had an unwieldy name in the lower court: "In re grand jury subpoena duces tecum.'' But the Supreme Court prefers case names that identify both sides, so White House lawyers had to choose a new title for their appeal.

Starr's May 8 letter to court clerk William K. Suter noted that federal law authorises independent counsels to act "in the name of the United States.'' He listed numerous cases -- including the dispute over the Nixon White House tapes -- in which an independent counsel was listed as "United States.'' Therefore, Starr wrote, his office too should be identified as "the United States'' in the case title.

Nonsense, responded Andrew L. Frey, the private lawyer representing the White House in this case.

"Each of the parties to this somewhat unusual proceeding is unquestionably presenting its best understanding of the institutional interests of the United States,'' Frey wrote to Suter.

Frey said he thought the title he used was a compromise. He said he could have identified the independent counsel's side as "Kenneth W. Starr, Independent Counsel.'' But after being told by the clerk's office that Starr objected to that title, Frey said he decided against it "in an effort to avoid needless squabbling about nomenclature.'' What if the Justice Department decides to file a friend-of-the-court brief outlining its views in the case? The department "speaks for the United States as well, and in our view has the superior claim to be denominated `the United States' in this setting,'' Frey wrote.

Starr also had ideas on how the White House should be identified. He proposed "Executive Office of the President,'' "White House Office'' or "William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States.'' But he did not like the title Frey chose. "There is no official entity entitled the `Office of the President,' at least so far as we are aware,'' Starr wrote.

In the end, it all was for naught. The clerk's office decided to keep the title Frey used.

But Starr had more to say. He wrote to the clerk's office again on Wednesday and reiterated his arguments "so that the historical record is complete and reflects our considered judgment.'' Now, on to the merits of the case -- the real name of the game.