Approximately zero ordinary people know what these things are though. How is anyone supposed to select between them? What is WPA2? Should I be using that or WPA1 or some other abbreviation? Simply use the most secure setting that is available – hide the terminology behind advanced settings for those that do know or care.
That's what Apple usually gets right: Instead of making their own 'friendly' names for things, they use the standard names and hide those settings from the user unless actually necessary to configure.
I haven't configured a WiFi network for a while
[1], but in general I find access pointy things do tend to default to the newest protocols supported. You only have to go digging to loosen things up when you've got some crusty old hardware that needs to connect.
Anyone familiar with Spinal Tap knows that WPA2 is like WPA1 but better. Indeed, most of the rot sets in where friendly names for things break the "bigger numbers => newer and betterer" convention. USB2 High Speed and Full Speed anyone?
Electric car chargers are another one. Kilowatts are scary and technical, so let's call them 'fast', 'rapid' and 'super' so everyone knows which one is better.
[1] This is a lie, but it was embedded stuff where the relevant configuration involves calling functions in C, so hardly consumer-level stuff.