These NAME TAGS were clues to who the Harlot was, she was not Babylon. These were identifiers.
MYSTERY
1.) Babylon the Great {Where Harlotry was at her Zenith}
2.) Mother of Harlots {Semiramis, who birthed these false religions, married her son Nimrod.
3.) Abominations of the Earth {Serving any false god is an Abomination unto God}
These are just clues to WHO the Harlot is, she is not Great Babylon per se.
Great Babylon = World Governments under Satan's Command.
The Harlot = False Religion which is at the core of most of the worlds problems.
If all the world worshiped the true God, we would have Good Governments.
Rev. 17 is the Babylon Kings {10 Kings in league with the Beast} killing the Harlot.
Rev. 18 is Babylon {OUR WORLD} getting pelted by the Seal, Trumpet and Vial Judgments over a 42 month period known as the Day of the Lord.
The name tags on the harlot, as you say, are clues to who the harlot is. If she is named Babylon the Great in scripture, as she is, then she is Babylon the Great. To say otherwise is like saying you are named Johnny Smith, but someone writing that about you means someone else is Johnny Smith. Well, there might be another Johnny Smith, but when someone attaches that name to you they mean you are Johnny Smith, not another person.
Revelation 17:1-5 states,
"1Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and told me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
2The kings of the earth were sexually immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.”
3And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
4And the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
5On her forehead a mysterious name was written:
BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
The prostitute is Babylon the Great! There would be no other reason to write that on her forehead in scripture. And it is false religion God holds more reprehensible than human governments, since they claim to represent him. Ones in that group Christ condemned, while he asked his Father to forgive his governmental killers, saying they knew not what they were doing.
Besides the Beast of Revelation that she rides is clearly shown to be a human governing entity that shares in God's mission with other human governments to destroy Babylon the Great. And all the world's governments are implied, represented by 10 kings. The harlot is not a governmental entity riding other governments. The world's governments exist for a time after Babylon the Great is destroyed as these scriptures from Revelation chapter 14 state:
"
8Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
9And a third angel followed them, calling out in a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives its mark on his forehead or on his hand,
10he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
11And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. Day and night there is no rest for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”
12Here is a call for the endurance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
13And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.”
Human governments exist for a time, after Babylon the Great is destroyed, and human governments persecute Christ's true church members, after Babylon the Great is destroyed. Therefore Babylon the Great could not represent human political governments. Religious governments yes.