it was designed as a tool for illiterate Chinese people (that was like 90% of population back then) to study Chinese, not a pronunciation guide for English speakers.

That’s perfectly fine. But there definitely should be a consistent English spelling and pronunciation/approximation of Mandarin words. Right now, it’s basically anyone’s guess how to pronounce a Chinese name. The fact that both the old system and pinyin are used just leads to confusion for people not familiar with Chinese.

I understand that Chinese speakers would prefer people try to pronounce names correctly. But at some point the languages are just so different, you’re not going to get it right.