Excel

Here is a better way to create a named range.

ActiveWorkbook.Names.Add 
    Name:="Data", 
    RefersToR1C1:="=" & 
    Worksheets("Data").Cells(1, 1).CurrentRegion.Address(True, True, xlR1C1, False)

The secret is in using the Address method to generate a name that can be used by
the Add method on a names collection.

Why didn't Microsoft allow Excel to do the following

 Range.Name = "Fred"

as an operation?

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Buggy spreadsheets: Russian roulette for the corporation The Register: "How many scenarios can you imagine where a momentary loss of concentration could cost over $1bn? Perhaps a nuclear power station meltdown...or if a currency trader hit a few wrong keys? Well, another possibility is a simple spreadsheet error.
In October 2003, soon after announcing third quarter earnings, Fannie Mae had to restate its unrealised gains, increasing them by $1.2bn. This highly unwelcome outcome was said to stem from 'honest mistakes made in a spreadsheet used in the implementation of a new accounting standard'.
The really, really bad news is that millions of similar errors are almost certainly being made every year, many of them in business-critical financial spreadsheets. Although they are the quintessential end-user tool, spreadsheets of any complexity are just as hard to write and maintain as any other kind of software - if they are to yield consistently accurate results, anyway."

Interesting article with several references to other articles about errors in spreadsheets.