I can understand the confusion, but I don't get why people don't just ask.

We're all 'presuming' and 'assuming' and from what I can see, a lot of people don't just ping WordCamp Central and ask "Can I use WordCamp Scotland?" Who knows, maybe you could persuade them to allow smaller nations to use regional names. "WordCamp Ontario" and "WordCamp Ohio" wouldn't make much sense in the US and Canada, but "WordCamp Scotland" certainly would. Then you'd only need to branch out into city name if more than one Scotland event took place.

We can't all be expected to know everything about WordCamps, and that there are guidelines instead of rules implies that you're permitted (if not encouraged) to ask for clarifications, exceptions and explanations. If you don't hear it from the horse's mouth, it's always okay to ask for clarification.

I'm pro WordUp - Not everything needs to be a WordCamp, and diversity is good.