Some devices allow you to rename them, UE speakers comes to mind. If you change the name (usually within the device manufacture's app,) unpair, then pair again, the new device name will show. I've used this method on a few Bluetooth speakers but it obviously won't work if the manufacture doesn't allow you to rename the device.

Even better, I have two Bluetooth adapters with identical names. At least they show up in a consistent order.

The problem is that users don’t understand aliases, and ‘renaming’ would only work for devices under the same iCloud account, so they would be confused when their renamed ‘Kitchen Speaker’ still shows up as BTS-123 in Android.

You could reduce almost any feature to "users are bottom-feeding troglodytes who barely know how to breathe so we shouldn't make this because they will just be confused."

I don't think it's the case here. The person who cares what their Bluetooth devices are named and is invested into renaming them would be able to figure that they renamed the device just on their phone, even if they were a bit confused.

> The problem is that users don’t understand aliases

This is demonstrated at my neighbor's house where he accesses the lamps in his living room through an app where they're labeled "Bedroom Lamp #1," "Living Rom Lmap," and something like "Living Room Lamp #3" because at some point the furniture got rearranged and lamps ended up in different rooms after being associated with the app.

He's a smart(ish) guy, but can't figure out how to rename them.

IIRC, Mac allows aliasing BT names, so there's precedent here.

Not if they also renamed it in Android, which is a feature I use on my Pixel 2 XL