We keep talking about the upcoming flagship Nexus smartphone, a device that we keep calling LG Nexus 4, without it being officially confirmed. Not even the name of the product is official yet, which is why we’re still naming it the LG Nexus 4, although there are many – maybe too many – leaks detailing the handset.

But what if “Nexus 4″ is exactly what Google and LG decided to call this Optimus G family member? According to new data obtained from EXIF photo details, the name “Nexus 4” has been spotted on at least a couple of pictures taken with the new device and uploaded to Picasa and Google+ by Google and LG employees, respectively.

The image above was taken by a Googler and posted on Picasa, while the following photo belongs to an LG employee and was shared via Google+.

But while the Nexus 4 monkier makes plenty of sense considering that this LG-made Nexus smartphone will be the fourth model in Google’s lineup, it will be strange to see it actually be baptized Nexus 4.

Apart from the HTC Nexus One, none of the models that followed it respected a logical naming criteria. The second Nexus was called Nexus S, while the third one was launched as the Galaxy Nexus – so we didn't have a Nexus Two or Nexus Three. Rumor has it that Samsung didn’t want to have a device with named “Nexus Two” because the company wasn’t second to anybody. So will LG’s Nexus have a boring “Nexus 4″ name for its first-gen Nexus smartphone?