ExcelBanter - HELP!! It's STuck

I've been using Excel for about 14 years. Have never seen this before. I
opened a new worksheet and instead of it being called Sheet 4, it had some
strange name like copy_[2]_list. I deleted that name (without taking note of
it and renamed the worksheet My List. Well now I'm in a loop.

I get the following error statement "You entered an invalid name (for the
sheet) make sure the name doesn't exceed 36 characters..." You know the
message I'm talking about. I've tried everything that I know to do. I've
named the worksheet "1". I've named it "page". I've deleted, cut, and have
done everything I know to the name of that sheet and the error msg won't go
away.

I've got about 4 weeks worth of data on the other 3 sheets in the file but I
can't get to it because I'm in this endless argument with Excel over the name
of this empty worksheet. Yes I have some back-ups but they're missing about
2 hours of my most recent work.

I can't leave the sheet. I can't save the file. I can't do squat without
the rules for sheet-naming popping up. Any ideas regarding a data-save at a
minimum? Oh, and obviously I need all ideas relating to "escaping" this
error message trap.

Thanks.