>>> class item:
	name = "An item"
	creationName = something
 
 
>>> itemInstance = item()
>>> itemInstance.name
'An item'
>>> itemInstance.creationName
'An item'
>>> itemInstance.name = "Different name."
>>> itemInstance.name
'Different name.'
>>> itemInstance.creationName
'Different name.'

>>> class item:
...     def __init__( self, name = None ):
...         self.name = name
...         self.creationName = name
...     def changeName( self, new_name ):
...         self.name = new_name
...         self.creationName = new_name
...     
>>> itemInst = item()
>>> itemInst.changeName( 'An item' )
>>> itemInst.name
'An item'
>>> itemInst.creationName
'An item'
>>> itemInst.changeName( 'Different name' )
>>> itemInst.name
'Different name'
>>> itemInst.creationName
'Different name'
>>> 

class Item(object):
    def __init__(self, name = ""):
        self._name = name
        self._cname = None
 
    def _get_name(self):
        return self._name
    def _set_name(self, value):
        self._name = value
        self._cname = None
    name = property(_get_name, _set_name)
 
    def _get_creationName(self):
        return self.name if self._cname is None else self._cname
    def _set_creationName(self, value):
        self._cname = value
    creationName = property(_get_creationName, _set_creationName)
 
    def showNames(self):
        return "name = % s, creationName = %s" % (self.name, self.creationName)
 
def testNames():
    item = Item("toto")
    print item.showNames()
 
    item.name = "zorglub"
    print item.showNames()
 
    item.creationName = "bazar"
    print item.showNames()
 
    item.name = "floppy"
    print item.showNames()
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    testNames()
 

name = toto, creationName = toto
name = zorglub, creationName = zorglub
name = zorglub, creationName = bazar
name = floppy, creationName = floppy