Everything is known from their name. The name gives an individual identity which distinguishes it from others. The same case is with sports, restaurants, verbs, etc. There is a most popular sport in the world called Football which is also known as soccer. Everything has a history of evolution and so does Football.
Have you ever asked your parents how they came to call you Nannu or Sonu at home and something else outside? You will definitely get an interesting answer just like I did. Yes, I was only 12 when I asked my mother why she always calls me princess even though we do not belong to a royal family. Then she told me that the day I was born, I was deemed a princess by everyone observing my attitude. And in addition, my kindness and polite behaviors’ made them call me a princess.
Well just like my name, every name has a history of its evolution and this story makes it unique. This is how I came across a comment in which a football fan curiously asked why football is called football and how did it get its name. I thought it could be something interesting to reveal. So do you know why football is called football and how it got its name? 
How Football got its name?
It is a very interesting question which can be answered with a lot of contrasting statements. The first argument which comes in response to this question is that because people just wanted to call it football. But everything has a base or reason behind it. So let’s find out the reason behind this name.
Some argue that it is logically the right name for a game that is played by feet because its name contains the apparent meaning. Football – foot and ball which means a game of ball played by feet. There are many other conflicting explanations of the origin of the word “football”. Some explains it has its origin in Medieval Europe where it referred to a variety of games played by feet and ball. Though their is no evidence for this explanation, it makes sense.
We told you that football is also known as soccer. We found out how football got its name and it is obvious to understand. But how did they come up with soccer? The sport of football is originally known as association football. Some argue that at some point, someone basically took the three letters of association football and named it Soccer as a sort of slang term. And then perhaps it just went on getting famous.
Sports like American football, rugby and soccer, all evolved from the same sport that was called football. Observations suggest that the old plain football stayed the same with its original name while other sports began to differentiate themselves. Rugby did the same. It got its name from a school in England, which is basically named after a Town. American football or gridiron football was also differentiated.
Why is football called Soccer?
We discussed why football is called football but now comes the question why football is called soccer. As I already told you how soccer got its name but why people used it synonymous to football? Was it even necessary? Actually it is not just a name for football but also a parameter to distinguish between American English and British English. In the British language it is called football while in the United States it’s called soccer. As football originated in England, Soccer is a symbol of Americanism.
There were two words rugger (Rugby Football) and assoccer (association football). These words were slangised and shortened to the names rugby football and soccer. By the 20th century, Rugby Football came to be commonly known as Rugby.
Soccer has an interesting story of evolution in the United States. The United States developed its own sport which adopted some elements of both rugby and association football. It was originally named as Gridiron football but people didn’t care to remember the first name. This is why American football players started calling their new combination sport Soccer. But sooner this nickname turned into an official name for American sport. Formed in the 1910s, the United States football association which organizes American soccer games changed its name to the United States Soccer Football Association in 1945.
