[Mike20435]

My guess: When the United States of America was formed it was the only grouping of independent 'states' in the Americas. Shortened forms of this name (what might be called nicknames) then developed to refer to both the country ('United States', 'USA', 'America') and its people ('Americans', 'Usonions' -- that last one primarliy used by architect Frank Lloyd Wright to describe a specific type of house). As other countries formed in the Western hemisphere, they used names that didn't conflict with the names already in place. Thus, countries like the Estados Unidos Mexicanos (the United States of Mexico) was established without reference to the entire American continent and its citizens are known (by those of us living in the United States of America) as 'Mexicans' and the country as 'Mexico.' (Incidentally, I remember a complaint from a social studies class that the United States of America had usurped the name 'United States' when there are in fact several countries in the Americas that use that wording in their formal names. Basically, I think that the USA had an earlier usage of this nickname and that's why it stuck.)

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Name : Mike20435, City : Greendale, State : WI Country : United States, 

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