From the Datatracker, I can see that it was called SEARCH until draft-2 (Nov 2021), and then changed to QUERY.

Also, the previous SEARCH method was proposed in Apr 2015 (!!), but nobody took it seriously, and it never gained traction back then. A lot of software was developed/updated during the last decade, and a lot of opportunities were missed. Even if the QUERY method is turned into a formal RFC right now, expect 10+ years for everyone to adopt it, without running into HTTP-405 or 501's.