Currently there are three types of naming for items which have iron/mithril/adamantium/eternium variations:

1. No extra word for iron variations.
Examples:
most melee weapons (long sword, mithril long sword, adamantium long sword, eternium long sword)
shields (medium shield, medium mithril shield, medium adamantium shield, medium eternium shield)
body armor (chain mail, ring mail, etc.)
quarrels
scurgari

2. The word "iron" is explicitly used for iron variations.
Examples:
Boots: (iron boots, mithril boots, ...)
Quarterstaves: (iron-shod quarterstaff, mithril-shod quarterstaff)

3. The word "metal" is explicitly used for iron variations.
Examples:
Caps: (metal cap, mithril cap, ...)
Girdles: (metal girdle, mithril girdle, ...)

It would be nice to have a single standard for all items. I understand that the first approach is used where applicable, whereas the second approach is used where the actual item type would be too generic alone (having an item named "boots" is pretty silly). Honestly, I have no idea how the third approach was conceived, because it's out of place and can be easily replaced with approach #2 (IMHO).

My personal wish is to use approach #2 for all items. I don't see anything bad with slightly increasing the length of item names and think it would increase clarity of the game universe.

TL;DR;
1. Add the word "iron" to identified form of all items that have higher-metal variations (dagger -> iron dagger, chain mail -> iron chain mail).
2. Replace the word "metal" with word "iron" in identified form of items that have higher-metal variations (metal girdle -> iron girdle, metal cap -> iron cap).