> it is a formally correct chemical name for it.

That may be so and also convenient but it ain't really what it is. I mean, with all its unusual properties such hydrogen bonding, it can, for example, also be described ionically. Some other names are aqua, hydroxic acid, hydrogen hydroxide and oxane, but it remains a gas or liquid that that concepts cannot explain. :-)

Oh, and if there are any takers, I remember some kind of water-based solvent being called 'hydro' in something I once watched.