User blog comment:Watermint/Human names v. Country names (Wiki)/@comment-2004850-20100710161234

You people are so good XD Basically took the words out of my mouth.

@anon - That could be it, though I think it's likely Himaruya did it just for the fans. I agree that it can be somewhat strange; characters in the series never call the nation as anything more than by their nation's name (with the exception of Romano).

So, Icelilly, it seems like the majority so far is fine with the move as long. Of course, we can still wait longer to get more opinions. Is there a specific deadline?