Word Drift · History of Words
Where does the name "America" come from?
The name "America" first appears in 1507, in mapmaker Martin Waldseemüller's Cosmographiae Introductio, for the lands of the western hemisphere. It is traditionally explained as coming from Amerigo Vespucci, a navigator whose published works put forward the idea that these lands were a new continent. Amerigo was easier to Latinize than Vespucci.
Source: “America” in the Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), read 2026-10-19.
Related episode
There is no Word Drift episode on this name yet. For more on how place names form and last, listen to Why do place names outlive the languages that made them?.
Questions
Who was America named after?
Traditionally after Amerigo Vespucci (1454 to 1512), a navigator who made trips to the New World and whose published works called it a new continent.
Who first used the name America?
Cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, in his 1507 treatise Cosmographiae Introductio.
Why America and not Vespucia?
Amerigo was more easily Latinized than Vespucci, whose Latin form Vesputius might have given a place name like Vesputia.