Hi Mike,
I can't explain it better than this;
Alerting Name
Enter a name that you want to display on the phone of the caller.
This setting, which supports the Identification Services for the QSIG protocol, applies to shared and nonshared directory numbers. If you configure an alerting name for a directory number with shared-line appearances, when the phone rings at the terminating PINX, the system performs the following tasks:
•Forwards the name of the caller that is assigned to the directory number.
•Applies the Connected Name Restrictions (CONR) that are configured for the translation pattern (if restrictions exist); the originating PINX may modify the CONR, depending on the route pattern configuration.
If you do not configure an alerting name, "Name Not Available" may display on the caller phone. If you do not enter a name for the Display (Internal Caller ID) field, the information in the Alerting Name field displays in the Display (Internal Caller ID) field.
ASCII Alerting Name
This field provides the same information as the Alerting Name field, but you must limit input to ASCII characters. Devices that do not support Unicode (internationalized) characters display the content of the Alerting Name ASCII field.
From this good doc;
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/admin/5_0_1/ccmcfg/b03dn.html
Hope this helps!
Rob
