"United States" or "America"?

Question

Isn't the name of the country "United States"? Why do so many people call it "America"? "America" is the name of the continent, not the country. No offense whatsoever, just curious.

Answer 1

Nope- our nation is officially known as the United States of America. Kind of goes back to the origin/formation of our nation 230 years ago. At the time, we were a collection of separate independent English colonies on the North American continent; each colony ran independently from the others almost as seperate nations/states (under English authority). At the point of our independence/revolution, the entire "New World" (both North and South American continents) was under control of various European nations (ie England, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Russia, etc.). Thus, when the former North "American" colonies revolted against the British and gained independence, the former "states" or colonies "united" together becoming the United States of America. A more interesting question/point when our country was formed may be whether each state had more authority in governing their people or if the national/federal government did which in many ways led to our Civil War @80 years later; imagine had the South won the war or simply had a stalemate/tie there may very well be 2 different, maybe hostile, United States of America (United States of America in the North and Confederate States of America in the South). As the first independent nation to form in the Americas (and by the creation of our national name), we simply became known as Americans (at that time the entire rest of the North and South American continents were still controlled by European nations and the people living in the other American colonies were simply seen as either citizens-or less- of the European nation that ruled over them). People living in the USA, understand that everybody living from Canada to the tip of Chile can be defined as a North American, South American, Latin American, etc- and thus, in that sense they are all "American" and may even call themselves as such at times. However, just like people living anywhere else, our nationality derives from the name of our country (ie Canada=Canadian; Mexico=Mexican; Brazil=Brazilian; United States of America=American); we mean no disrespect to others on either continent it has just always been understood that when you say American or reference American culture/history/etc. that refers to the USA (please check Webster's dictionary). By trying to define everybody living in North, Central, Latin, South America as an "American" only leads to more confusion as to what group of people you mean- kind of like what I think you are currently experiencing by the posting of your question. I can also tell you that I live just across from the border that divides Canada and the USA; many Canadians are very offended to be mistaken or refered to as Americans because it shows disrespect for their unique and separate history, culture, political structure, etc.- they also don't want to mistaken for us Americans with today's international political climate. Another source of your confusion may be that simply over time (I think another responder touched on this issue) people, both here and in other countries, have simply dropped the "of America" from "the United States of America" when referring to the USA simply because it was so long and everybody understood that the United States meant the United States of America- once again sort of like calling the former Union of Socialist Soviet Republics the Soviet Union.

Just curious myself- I see you are from Costa Rica (beautiful country) and was wondering if you were taught that the USA is only the US in your schools and that everyone in North, Central, Latin, and South America are Americans? AnswerBot and I had a similar debate (I asked him to chime in with an opposing viewpoint). This is the 4th similar question I have responded to and most of the posters have come from Central/South American nations. I also think that some of the problem may come from the English/Spanish language barrier as I have been informed in other nations we are called Norte Americanos (North Americans) but that still doesn't help me understand how people from the USA and Canada are then distinguished from each other.

Answer 2

It's the United States of America

Answer 3

It is The United States of America

Answer 4

The full name is "United States of America." I'm not sure where you would have heard that America is not the name of my country. It isn't true. People call it either by its full name, the United States, America, the U.S., or the U.S.A.

It would be like saying that the country at the bottom of the African continent should not call itself South Africa, because Africa is the name of the continent.

Answer 5

The United States of America is the name or United States for short. The problem with just saying America is that Latin Americans and South Americans consider themselves Americans as well. My Latin American friends often take offense to using the term American to only refer to citizens of the US. The main problem is that no other word exists to call citizens of the US. Somehow United Statesian doesn't seem to roll off the tongue.

As a sidenote, the term America comes from the explorer Amerigo Vespucci and was applied to both continents.

Answer 6

The continent is North America (Canada and Mexico are a part of it as well) and the country is called The United States of America.

America is therefor short form for the proper name of the country.

Answer 7

United States of America actually

Answer 8

United States of America is the official name.

Answer 9

The country is the "United States of America", America is the usual shortened version of the name.

Answer 10

It's probably because they're called United States of America and America is way shorter than United States, other than that I have no idea. They should have one name like where I live --Canada.

Answer 11

United States of America, goes the official lingo. But never "America". Do not keep on robbing a whole continent off its identity.