from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/255312/how-to-get-a-variable-name-as-a-string-in-php

variable_name.php

<?php

function variable_name( &$var, $scope=false, $prefix='UNIQUE', $suffix='VARIABLE' ){
    if($scope) {
        $vals = $scope;
    } else {
        $vals = $GLOBALS;
    }
    $old = $var;
    $var = $new = $prefix.rand().$suffix;
    $vname = FALSE;
    foreach($vals as $key => $val) {
        if($val === $new) $vname = $key;
    }
    $var = $old;
    return $vname;
}

vname.php

<?php

// Another option

function vname(&$var, $scope=0)
{
$old = $var;
if (($key = array_search($var = 'unique'.rand().'value', !$scope ? $GLOBALS : $scope)) && $var = $old) return $key;

}

Maybe something else to use with

$skip=array('GLOBALS','_ENV','HTTP_ENV_VARS',
'_POST','HTTP_POST_VARS','_GET',
'HTTP_GET_VARS',
'_COOKIE',
'HTTP_COOKIE_VARS','_SERVER',
'HTTP_SERVER_VARS',
'_FILES','HTTP_POST_FILES',
'_REQUEST','HTTP_SESSION_VARS',
'_SESSION');