Comment 2 for bug 351482

The notification area holds more than just the wireless icon (e.g. volume indicator, bittorrent status information, etc). So, the name and icon are correct for what the applet does.

Perhaps adding the name of the applet being removed to the "Remove from Panel" menu item could be a solution?

e.g. "Remove 'Notification Area' from Panel"

This could be a generic solution that prevents this issue for all applets.