Close to 60 per cent of community responses rejected council's pitch to give part of the city's north the same name as the lake that is the geographical centerpiece of the local government area.

And to make matters worse, the Geographical Names Board that would have ultimately had the final say on the proposal slammed the idea, saying it would cause confusion for addressing and emergency services.

The council pitched three potential boundaries for the suburb.

Each included the remediated smelter site in Boolaroo with options to include other parts of the existing suburb as well as sections of Speers Point and Teralba.

Of the 1244 responses garnered during consultation, 726 were not supportive of naming a suburb Lake Macquarie.

Of the 518 responses in favour, 270 preferred the largest boundary option, which included the smelter site, a large part of Boolaroo and land around The Weir Road in Teralba.

There were 26 responses in favour of a suburb, but not at any of the locations proposed.

"Several themes were identified in the responses received, and some responses included comments on more than one theme," a staff report prepared for next week's council meeting says.

"A substantial number of comments, 442 in total, stated that Lake Macquarie represented a larger geographic boundary than the proposed options and 334 comments identified that naming a suburb Lake Macquarie would be confusing to residents, tourists and services.

"[More than 200] comments expressed an opinion that creating a suburb called Lake Macquarie would be a waste of resources and create unnecessary expense."

The community opposition followed a rebuke from the Geographical Names Board, which staff consulted as part of the process.

The GNB said the name Lake Macquarie was "not suitable for a suburb in NSW, regardless of location, as the name would create confusion for addressing and service delivery, including the effective provision of emergency services".

It said such a suburb might restrict other people around the lake using that name, which would in turn lead to confusion.

The GNB did, however, indicate it would support an alternative suburb name which acknowledges the "local Aboriginal peoples or multicultural nature of the suggested area".

The suburb idea aimed to promote the city and build on the redevelopment of the smelter site.

Staff have recommended councillors not proceed with an application to the GNB to forge the suburb. The motion will be debated on Monday night.