[CentOS] How Do I ...

Wed Apr 14 15:12:14 UTC 2010
Joseph L. Casale <jcasale at activenetwerx.com>

>The eth? names are assigned in more or less random order at bootup

Not exactly "random" but not always as expected:)
http://linux.dell.com/files/whitepapers/nic-enum-whitepaper-v3.pdf