ancient times - Oxford and Cambridge universities come into being, composed of multiple independent and mostly equivalent colleges (ie all teaching the full range of subjects)
1826 - London University founded
1829 - King's College founded
1836 - London University and King's College combine to form the University of London, comprising two colleges roughly on the Oxbridge model; London University is renamed to University College
University College may be a silly name, but what else would they have called it? London College? Hardly better.
Note that University College, Oxford and University College Dublin are called that for completely different reasons.
ancient times - Oxford and Cambridge universities come into being, composed of multiple independent and mostly equivalent colleges (ie all teaching the full range of subjects)
1826 - London University founded
1829 - King's College founded
1836 - London University and King's College combine to form the University of London, comprising two colleges roughly on the Oxbridge model; London University is renamed to University College
University College may be a silly name, but what else would they have called it? London College? Hardly better.
Note that University College, Oxford and University College Dublin are called that for completely different reasons.