American schools teach that America is named for Amerigo Vespucci so that is the correct answer (whether true or not ha ha ha) Personally though, I go with it came from the Vikings (being mostly Norwegian myself and my paternal grandmother told me this story). I have heard other stories in school too - like it was after a sailor name Amerlrick or something like that and also that it was named after a tax collector. Who knows for sure? Whoever it is is no longer surviving...

>Item one is in debate. Terry goes with a theory that I'd heard recently, but discounted as just another theory with not enough behind it to convince me to discard what I was taught. Terry thinks it does have enough merit to supercede what we were taught in school. It is an interesting theory, but the bottom line is, it's just another theory.
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>Whether or not you get a point for item 3 is, as far as I'm concerned, a question of semantics in how you word your answer.
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>>One and three are too well-known to bother with. #2 is debated still today. I go with John Hanson (1781-1782) presiding officer of congress and was the President of the United States in Congress Assembled. However, George Washington was universally asked to serve as what was then termed the First President of the United States under the Constitution. He was the first president to reside in the first national capital (then in new York).
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>>>My non-fellow Americans
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>>>Watching a UK TV prog, "QI" (Quite Interesting), a few interesting facts about your country came up. I put them as a test for you and trust you'll answer without looking the answers up:
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>>>1) After whom was America named?
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>>>2) Who was the first president?
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>>>3) Why do you say "John Hancock" when you want someone's signature?