Good to hear from you. You’ll find a whole bunch of iPad enthusiasts in this Forum who are only too willing to help other iPad owners and to hear of their experiences. Don’t be afraid to post any questions you may have or use the ‘Search’ button near the top of the Forum web page. I usually find I discover one new interesting and useful piece of information about my iPad every day - and often not even what I was looking for!!
It's not possible to rename apps ....but....you can put apps into folders and then give the folder a descriptive name. For example, I put all my Apple iWorks Office apps - Pages, Numbers and Keynote - into one folder and called it 'Office. To do that, press and hold any icon until they start to 'jiggle' (Apple's name, not mine!). Then touch and hold the icon of one of the apps that you want to put into a folder and drag it on top of another app icon that you want to be in that same folder. Keep doing that for subsequent apps. The iPad will give the folder a default name of the first app icon but if, when you've finished dragging, you touch the folder a text box will pop up and you can rename it to whatever you want. Be careful when you are dragging the jiggling icons because you'll notice that each jiggling icon has a '-' on the top left-hand corner and, if you touch that (rather than touch and hold) you'll be offered the opportunity to delete the icon (but you do get a prompt). If you're worried about accidentally deleting apps, you can turn that off in the Settings app.
In terms of navigating the App Store - yes, I agree entirely, it can be daunting. There are a number of third-party apps out there that can help - plus the 'new' App Store does have 'categories' and a 'Search' option with filters. One third party app that Forum members have recommended is 'App Shopper'.
Hope to hear from you soon with your thoughts about the iPad.
Have fun and enjoy your iPad
If you don’t already have it you can download a copy of the iPad manual for free.
Apple - Support - Manuals
It’s free too.
Tim
Scotland