This argument makes sense for natural language (where one can argue that a word “is a real word” or that a word means something simply because it is commonly used in that manner), not so much for proper nouns in my opinion. Linux is a specific thing, created by a specific person (who named it after himself), developed by a specific team for specific purposes. Whether or not people mistakenly believe other unrelated things are also Linux doesn’t change the truth of what Linux actually is.

If “the vast majority of people” mistakenly believed the Earth was flat or that the sun revolved around it, that does not suddenly make it so. “The vast majority of people” being ignorant should be taken as an opportunity to address that ignorance, not perpetuate it.

I understand the purpose of making relevant the GNU part but insisting on it is not how language works. A better example is more like when people just say ‘America’ referring to the country instead of insisting in saying ‘United States of America’ every 👏 time 👏 on 👏 every 👏 single 👏 conversation because of “its significance”.