[femto]

As an Australian, I've always understood the "Great Southern Ocean" to lie south of Australia, and never realised that it wasn't called this outside Australia. I guess that's where the Australian government's objection comes from: wanting the official definition to match up with the long standing popular definition.

A bit of searching shows that this name (in French) was recorded in Freycinet's Map of 1811.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freycinet_Map_of_1811

Personally, I prefer "Great Southern Ocean" over "Southern Ocean", as it captures some of the power and majesty of a wild part of the world. Maybe that should be the compromise: Southern Ocean is below 60 degrees and Great Southern Ocean is the whole thing, right up to the Australian coastline, though it would miss the point that it is great due to its power, not its size?