Why are pre U.S. indigenous peoples called native American?

Native American is only a label placed on us by others... While the origin of the indigenous people of this continent differ, depending on who you ask. You should be asking this question to a group of indigenous people, you would get many answers, most of which will have something to do with their own beliefs. Most of us prefer to be "labeled" by our own individual names whether it be Tslagi (Cherokee), etc.