It’s a pretty long story but football started as a medieval game and involved running with the ball in the players’ hands. It was banned for a period of time for being considered too violent. It was given the name Rugby from the school where its rules were established. The name soccer came from Association Football, which was a later offshoot and had its own rules. When Rugby Football came to North America it was just called football, while the rest of the world used the names rugby and football. Americans used the name soccer instead.