https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-pope-could-it-be-american-c...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-pope-could-it-be-american-c...
Now, Latin Americans living in the US proudly call themselves "Americans"
Edit: Albeit long, the correct gentilice for the US is "Estadounidenses" as in "Estados Unidos de América"
Which nobody uses. (It’s also meaningful to note that I would call myself an American in English but not in Spanish.)
I think there are legal implications. Akin to "Washington District of Columbia"
Decades ago, Mexicans refered to the capital as "el DF" But I dont know about more recently.
There is a similar situation in Quebec (the province and its capital city are both just called "Québec" in French, whereas in English we use Quebec/Quebec City). However, there is usually no ambiguity because French grammar requires the definite article for (masculine) names of large territories like countries and provinces, but not for cities. E.g. "Je vais au Québec"[1] = I'm going to Quebec (the province) vs. "Je vais à Québec" = I'm going to Quebec City.
I'm not sure if there is any similar grammatical distinction in Spanish.
1: au is a mandatory contraction for à + le