I have a CDB called ORCL, which has a PDB called ORCLPDB1.

SQL> select name, open_mode from v$pdbs;

NAME
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPEN_MODE
--------------------
PDB$SEED
READ ONLY

ORCLPDB
READ WRITE

ORCLPDB1
MOUNTED

When I use sqlplus /@localhost:1521/orcl as sysdba to connect to CDB, execute SELECT NAME, OPEN_MODE FROM v$database;, I get:

NAME OPEN_MODE
------------------ ----------------------------------------
ORCL READ WRITE

Use sqlplus /@localhost:1521/orclpdb as sysdba to connect to PDB, execute SELECT NAME, OPEN_MODE FROM v$database;, I get:

SQL> SELECT NAME, OPEN_MODE FROM v$database;

NAME OPEN_MODE
------------------ ----------------------------------------
ORCL MOUNTED

My question is:

Why is the NAME always ORCL?

If you connect as a PDB, is the data in v$database the data of the currently connected PDB or the data of the CDB to which the PDB belongs?