In addition to Dani's tip you can Set windows up to star the rename at whatever number you wish.

For example if you want to start at number 547 make your rename "imagename (547).jpg and all following files will increment from that point on.

As far as setting the files in a display order and then renaming them for that order I use a free program called IrfanView. It has a very powerful batch processing utility and it is free.

You can position the files in the order you want and there is a thumbnail view so you can see the images without having to know the images by file name. Once done you can setup the naming convention to fit your need.

Just google IrfanView to check it out.