Three area airports recently changed their names in an effort to increase recognition among passengers outside the area and lure them to a less-congested alternative destination.

Hoping to attract more customers traveling to and from Boston, executives at the former Manchester Airport, located about 50 miles from Boston, changed its name in mid-April to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. Shortly thereafter, apparently with the same goal in mind, Worcester Regional Airport, located about 40 miles from Boston, voted to change its name to Worcester-Metrowest-Boston Airport. In May, the Pease Development Authority, hoping to lure customers from Manchester and Boston, voted to change its airport’s name to Portsmouth International Airport at Pease.

In early April, Manchester hired national consultant RKM Research and Communications to conduct a random telephone survey of significant statistical size in 15 major metropolitan areas throughout the western United States that have been identified as potential nonstop destinations as the airport continues to develop. Only 3 percent of the respondents had heard of Manchester Airport and knew it was located in New Hampshire. Most who had heard of it thought it was in England, but that airport is actually named Manchester International Airport. On the other hand, 93 percent of respondents had heard of Boston (only 76 percent of them knew it was located in Massachusetts).

In 2005, almost one million air travelers from Massachusetts used the Manchester airport.

“One of the major challenges that we often face is a lack of broad geographic awareness among air travelers from other parts of the country. Very few people understand our close proximity to Boston and the major business centers north of the city,” said Airport Director Kevin Dillon in a statement.

Named Grenier Air Field during World War II, the airport became Manchester Municipal Airport in 1978. Pease was named to honor the memory of Harl Pease Jr., a bomber pilot captured and executed during a particularly courageous mission in Japan during World War II.