The earliest known use of the name America dates to 1507, where it was

applied to what is now known as South America.[20] The scholarly consensus is

that the name was derived from Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.[21]
In modern English, North and South America are generally considered separate
continents, and taken together are called the Americas in the plural, parallel to
similar situations such as the Carolinas. When conceived as a unitary continent,
the form is generally the continent of America in the singular. However, without
a clarifying context, singular America in English commonly refers to the United
States of America.[6]
In some parts of the world, especially Romance languages-speaking nations,
America (or the Americas) is considered a continent encompassing the North
America and South America subcontinents,[22][23] as well as Central America.[24]