Escort, in common context, simply means 'to go with'. If a police officer escorts you somewhere, do you expect them to take a bullet for you? What if you're escorting a friend to a party?
There's also a significant difference between real naval tactics and what works in-game; in the real world, you'd expect an escorting cruiser or destroyer to put itself between an attack and the aircraft carrier... but the real world doesn't have shields, among various other differences that make that behavior problematic in-game.
Regardless of whether the current 'Escort' command gets renamed or not, though, there is definitely a need for a distinct command that encompasses "Stay near this target ship, try to avoid being between it and what it's shooting at, and otherwise just do your own thing."