>So, the create table command probably shouldn't accept quotes in the long name as it lends itself to confusion.

Thats not backwards compatible. And its not consitant with other things like USE.

*These are the same cause both are short file names
use table1
use 'table1' &&Works the same as previous line

*This fails because of long file names, you need quotes
copy to my test table1
copy to 'my test table1'
use my test table1
use 'my test table1'

*Notice the alias doens't show spaces, but the file still has them
?alias()
?dbf()

I don't think its confusing either, just handy that quotes aren't required. If quotes were NOT allowed in create table, that would be confusing.