If your hope is to appeal to the masses, there are in my view two cardinal sins in OS naming:
1) Don't put "OS" in the name. It's an automatic "nerd alert." macOS is an exception because you don't have a choice to install it, and Apple is...well, Apple. They're often an exception to many things.
2) No punctuation marks, symbols, etc. Just letters.
Pop_OS! breaks both of them, and one of them twice, and it drives me nuts, because it's a nice distro.
You speak the truth. I've tried to explain this to them previously but they just ignore it. I use Arch now, but if I had to use something Debian-based I'd pick PopOS.
My wife now uses PopOS. It may have been easier to convince her to use it if the name wasn't ridiculous. She likes it now, though.
What Linux really needs is better support from third parties. If I could get a passable version of AutoCAD civil 3D on Linux, I'd never go back to windows. I'd be thrilled to pay for it. Of course... Microsoft owns AutoCAD. Coincidence???
I do see efforts being made towards capturing desktop users.