Wouldn't it make more sense to call electrons positively charged because when they move they make electricity?
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6$\begingroup$ Does this answer your question? Why is the charge naming convention wrong? $\endgroup$– Emilio PisantyCommented Mar 14, 2022 at 18:43
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1$\begingroup$ Alternative duplicate: physics.stackexchange.com/q/68471 $\endgroup$– Emilio PisantyCommented Mar 14, 2022 at 18:44
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Why were electrons chosen to be negatively charged?
Electrons were not chosen to be negatively charged. Rather, from ancient times, it was known that rubbing silk on amber caused electric phenomena. Then, the terms "positive" and "negative" were applied to the charges on the amber and the silk, although I don't remember which one was called positive, and which negative. At the time that the amber and silk were being assigned positive and negative, the existence of electrons had not even been discovered. Physics developed with the terms positive and negative charges. Things like the electrodes of batteries were labeled positive and negative. When electrons were finally discovered, and shown to have the charge that had been called negative, it would have been very inconvenient to swap all the terminology around. If such a swap had been made, then if one read about an experiment that described the "positive" terminal of a battery, one would need to know when the description was made, i.e. before or after the swap. So, as far as I know, no-one seriously tried to change the practice, and everyone just accepted that electrons were "negatively" charged.
answered Mar 14, 2022 at 20:10