1. A computerized method for analyzing a circuit description netlist to produce a higher level description, wherein one or more processors perform the method comprising: automatically analyzing a list of signal names that comprise at least a portion of the circuit description netlist according to a list of rules; automatically grouping together signal names from the list of signal names according to similarities as defined by the list of rules, to produce groups of similar signal names; for at least one group of signal names, identifying or creating a higher level interface definition consistent with signal names in the at least one group of signal names; automatically assigning said at least one group of signal names to a higher-level interface definition; and automatically saving the grouped signal names in memory to produce the higher level description of the circuit description netlist based on the higher-level interface definition; wherein automatically analyzing the list of signal names according to the list of rules comprises searching for one or more character substrings within a signal name according to a syntax encompassed within a rule from among said list of rules; wherein at least one signal grouping is represented by a single name in the higher-level description whereby multiple signal names in the circuit description netlist are replaced by a smaller number of names in the higher-level description; and wherein at least one rule refers to one or more characteristic substring constructs that are consistent with a standard or preexisting interface definition.