The name “America” first appeared in print in 1507 in Cosmographiae Introductio by German mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller.
Waldseemiiller named it in honor of explorer Amerigo Vespucci, whom he believed was the true discoverer of America.
Vespucci’s claims to have been the first to reach the American mainland (in 1497) and the first to realize that America was not part of Asia have long been disputed, but his name lives on in geography just the same.