Sorry about that StriderKumori, when I was reading the posts when typing out my reply, I must have misread Crisis' name with yours and mixed up the two user names.
But I mean already the Combat Cross, Stake part was damaged after the fight with Carmilla, essentially making the Chain Whip aspect the remaining useful function from it, essentially crippling the weapon to nothing more then essentially a Whip with a Cross like handle.
Perhaps a hundred years or so after Gabriel's quest the towns people who were saved from the Lords of Shadow remember the tale of the 'Vampire Killer' and weapon itself becomes a myth / local legend in the name just sticks and the Combat Cross itself is long forgotten as the original name.