How did native Americans choose their name?

Answer 1

The way in which Native Americans were named depended on which tribe they belonged to. Some names would have been chosen by the elders of the tribe whilst others would have been the names of ancestors. The idea that parents chose a name for their child by using the first thing they saw from the wigwam when the child was born is seen as a racist stereotype.

Answer 2

They were not called "Native Americans" until the last 10 or 15 years, and the name is a misnomer.

The older and more correct name is "Indians" or "Red Indians" (to distinguish them from Asiatic "East Indians"). In fact, they were called Indians long before the people in Hindustan (modern 'India') were called Indians. Therefore they have the original claim on the name!

They are called Indians because they inhabited the far-off places across the sea, which were collectively known as the Indies. After Columbus's early voyages it became clear that "these" Indies were not the same part of the world as the "far" Indies, whence spices came. Therefore, the Caribbean islands and neighboring shores became known as the West Indies, while the lands around southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific Ocean are still called the East Indies!

The title "Native American" is a politically weighted term, favored by Marxists and other leftists who hate America. It is also wildly inaccurate. There was no America here before the Europeans came. The country called America was not founded until 1776, and no Indians helped to create it. In fact a key reason cited by the Declaration of Independence is that the Americans needed to declare independence in order to protect themselves from the Indian Savages! The land-masses that include the word America were not called that by the Indians, either.