Three things:

First, how many people need to be offended by a word before you stop calling them by that word? You said that 10% of your survey was "against" it. It might have been more instructive if you had also inquired their feelings on the term "flight attendant," no? Because if 0% of flight attendants feel insulted by the use of the term "flight attendant" and 10% of flight attendants feel insulted by the use of the term "stewardess," well, then that frames the issue a little, IMO.

Case in point: a friend of mine is a self-identified homosexual, who uses the word "fag" to describe himself. And sometimes his straight friends call him a "fag." He isn't offended by it. Other people are. The fact that this guy is OK with that label doesn't make it prudent or kind to use it to others (or to him, for that matter).

Secondly, the analogy is apt. You're choosing to continue to read the old meaning of the word onto it. Some other people have developed a different take on what that word means (see above in this thread, if you don't believe me). You can continue to hold onto your meaning, but living languages change. Some southerners will argue until they're blue in the face that the rebel flag is a symbol of states rights. Are they wrong? Not really, but to other people it means something else -- something negative and harmful. In this specific case, it means something negative to some of the very people who you are labeling with it. Ouch.

Finally, if you're going to rely on the results of this survey as justification to use a word that, by your own statistics insults 10% of the surveyed population, can you give us more information on your method? Who did you speak with? Where? Under what conditions? How did you phrase your inquiry?

Because, again IMO, there's a big difference between

1) a situation where an older gentleman first class passenger stops a FA reading a magazine on his way to the lav and says "don't you think it's silly that they call you flight attendants now?"

and

2) a situation where a professional-looking person is standing in an airport terminal with a clipboard and a pen asking flight attendants "what title do you prefer to describe your occupation?"

And I can see how the results would be different.

But this is all just a mental exercise, because the bottom line for me is that you identified people who were "against" the use of the word...presumably because they found it insulting. If you want to continue to use it, so be it. It doesn't seem very nice to me.