Textfield: Programatic Instance Names

I have some menu code which creates a number of submenu items and I want to be able to load SWF content into a container MC on the stage onClick. These are the relevant sections of code:


function onSelectItem(event:MouseEvent):void {
    switch (instanceName) {
        case instance1 :
            startLoad("roots.swf");
            break;
        case instance2 :
            startLoad("arrival.swf");
            break;
        case instance3 :
            startLoad("post-war.swf");
            break;
        case instance4 :
            startLoad("doubts.swf");
            break;
        default :
            startLoad("roots.swf");
    }
}

//CODE FROM A DIFFERENT FUNCTION
id = int(event.target.name);
submenus = menuArray[id].length;

var menuSubHolder:Sprite = new Sprite();
menuSubHolder.name = "sub" + String(id);
menuSubHolder.y = event.target.y + 18;

for (var j:int = 0; j < submenus; j++) {
    menuSubText = new TextField();
    menuSubText.x = event.target.x + 18;
    menuSubText.y = j * 18;
    menuSubText.text = menuArray[id][j];
    menuSubText.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
    menuSubHolder.addChild(menuSubText);
    // DISPLAY CONTENT ON CLICK
    menuSubText.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onSelectItem);
}

The problem I’m finding is that AS 3 assigns some unpredictable instance numbers to the submenu items. How can I assign my own instance names to each of the submenu textfields on creation?