Australia is not called the Socceroos. The Australian soccer team is called the Socceroos because it is a combination of the words "soccer" and "kangaroos", the latter being unique to Australia (apart from tree kangaroos).
The name "Australia" comes from the Latin term Terra Australis meaning "land of the south". Often known as Terra Australis Incognita, i.e. "the unknown land of the South", it was the name given to...
Australia was previously known as New Holland. Matthew Flinders first proposed the name "Terra Australis", which became "Australia", the name adopted in 1824.
The Australian continent was variously known as Locac or Lucach, India meridional (South India), Java le Grande and Terra Australis by Mercator (and others) in the latter half of the 1500s. The name...