You are being facetious, but there was in fact a decades-long (maybe centuries-long) debate within the Spanish Royal Academy as to whether the correct spelling

You are being facetious, but there was in fact a decades-long (maybe centuries-long) debate within the Spanish Royal Academy as to whether the correct spelling for the country should be "Mejico" rather than "Mexico". In some places even today a spelling of "Mejico" is used (not in Mexico itself, of course), reflecting the previous advice given by the Academy. It wasn't until the late 20th century that the Royal Academy finally conceded that the standard spelling of Mexico should be with an X. This accommodation, however, was made begrudgingly, as you can tell perhaps by reading between the lines of their official position on the matter: https://www.rae.es/dpd/M%C3%A9xico https://www.rae.es/dpd/M%C3%A9xico https://www.rae.es/dpd/Texas https://www.rae.es/dpd/Texas Spanish spelling is standardized in a way that is almost unimaginable in the English-speaking world today. The driving institution behind this standardization is the Royal Academy, which has influence not only in Spain, but also throughout Latin America. It would not be unprecedented at all for a city or province to change the spelling of its name in order to conform to Spanish's universal spelling rules.