You are both correct.
COM ports are assigned automatically on Windows the first time a device is connected to a computer. The information (Device ID, COM port, etc...) is stored in the Windows Registry, so that if the device (with the same HW ID) is connected to the computer again it doesn't have to re-install the drivers. (You know when you see the "installing new hardware" pop-up on the task bar.)
There are a few times when the COM ports can get re-assigned for the same device such as plugging a USB-COM port into a different USB hub in certain circumstances, etc...
However, I think what Nachtwind is asking for is to simply assign a "friendly name" to a COM port # (not the actual hardware), as this usually stays consistent on the same computer.
This could probably be entered in a ports.txt file that could get read when the IDE gets loaded and then displayed next to the port # in the Tools-Ports menu.