I really dislike that the US took the name 'Cheddar' and applied it to basically mean generic cheese with no other characteristics. Traditional Cheddar is a great cheese with its own merits.

Something like the sharper Cabot cheddars aren't bad for a day-to-day cheese. But it certainly is a completely different cheese than artisanal long-aged cheddars whether from the UK or the US.

For a great US alternative, try Prairie Breeze by Milton Creamery (in Iowa). Very tasty stuff.

https://miltoncreamery.com/prairie-breeze/

Cheddar is a name of a process as well as a location.

I think that's 'cheddaring'. So they could call it 'cheddared cheese' instead of 'Cheddar cheese' like they do at the moment.

I had a cheese marked “Gruyere” in the US which was a bleached white paste.

Or the "mozzarella" on the pizzas which is actually oil and protein-based