Why the Gulf of Mexico Wasn't Named "America"

The name "America" derives from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer who recognized the New World as a separate continent (not Asia). The Gulf of Mexico was named for the Mexica (Aztec) heartland—"Mexico" comes from Mēxihco, the Nahuatl name for the Valley of Mexico. Geographic features were named for adjacent lands/peoples, not the continental eponym.