The names given to these important events are always controversial and are often politically motivated. For example in Hungary the 1956 revolution was called a counterrevolution under socialism, or for a more recent example the election of Orban in 2010 (who has been prime minister since) is often called another "rendszerváltás" in opposition circles.
Also, Hungarian being an agglutanative language the word "rendszerváltás" breaks down into simpler roots: "rendszer" = "rend" (order) + "-szer" (unique suffix) and "vált" (to change) + "ás" (suffix which turns verbs into nouns). I find this language really cool because of the fact that most words decompose into very simple morphemes.
Interesting. This -szer suffix seems to be used a lot. Attached to hajtó, it turns driver to fuel. Attached to autó, it turns car to car service. Attached to pàra, it tuns vapor to vaporizer. Attached to fékező, it turns braking into brake fluid.
Seems like adding -szer turns the meaning of the word into its enabler.