They called it "static" because "it doesn’t go anywhere".
In order to create static electricity, you have to rub two different materials.
When you rub them, the electrons move.
So, why is it called "static"? What does "it" refer to, when they say "it" doesn’t go anywhere?
Static comes from the same root as stasis, meaning stop, immovable,
To create static electricity, you have to rub two different materials. At the moment you rub them, the electrons already moved
Note the word "create", creation is not static, and yes there are transient fields and currents during creation of a static field. The static describes the situation after the creation of the field. This will be static because it will not change unless energy is inputted in some form, motion or current. The description is geometrical for static electricity, and geometry is unchangeable, unless some energy input changes it and generates new geometrical patterns. Mathematically it means that in the formulas for static fields there is no functional dependence on time.
Its because the charge does not move - it is stationary -> static.
So it was given a name which is very descriptive: static electricity.
It is not because of the friction between the two materials, but due to the charge remaining stationary on the material once it has lost or gained electrons. This is in opposition to the charge flowing back to its original position after the friction, which is what usually occurs in conductors (metals) as their outer electrons are free to move. This is why static electricity usually occurs in insulators, as they do not have electrons that are free to move.
Static is opposed to dynamic - the first deals with "immovable" phenomena, which in physics language means that nothing changes in time, whereas dynamics deals with motion, i.e., changes in time (although in some context one may also distinguish dynamic and kinetic, as with and without considering the causes of motion.)
Thus, electrodynamics deals with electromagnetic waves, currents and other phenomena involving movement of charges and electromagnetic fields changing in time. Electrostatics deals with potentials created by constant charges. Magnetostatics deals with magnetic fields constant in time, created by currents that are constant in time (though there is charge movement.)
Within fluid mechanics one similarly uses terms hydrodynamics and hydrostatics to describe moving liquids and liquids that do not move (but where we still want to calculate the distributions of pressure, density, etc.)
In classical mechanics one would speak of static problems - like studying a balance of forces for objects in equilibrium, and dynamic problems, where we study how forces make bodies move.
Although there may be nuances of meaning when a term is applied in a specific field, the distinction between static and dynamic is quite general and goes well beyond physics. Thus, the question could be meaningfully answered, e.g., in English language community.
The charges are called "static" because they remain very nearly fixed in one location on the surface of the object until they are given a path to escape.
