Syntax:
RENAME TABLE tbl_name TO new_tbl_name
    [, tbl_name2 TO new_tbl_name2] ...

This statement renames one or more tables.

The rename operation is done atomically, which means that no other
session can access any of the tables while the rename is running. For
example, if you have an existing table old_table, you can create
another table new_table that has the same structure but is empty, and
then replace the existing table with the empty one as follows (assuming
that backup_table does not already exist):

URL: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/rename-table.html

