Why is the ethernet called IEE 802.3 protocol?

The ethernet is called Ieee 802.3 protocol because of the standards thereof. IEEE 802.3 is also known as E the infamous ethernet standard. It is what defines it. The name IEEE 802.3 stand sof for 10BASE5 which at the time it was given was thick Ethernet or thicknet.

The name is actually descriptive of the physical layer and also encompasses the media access control (MAC) that entails the wired data link layer wheen ethernet is used. That is usually through a LAN or local area network. Now, ethernet is just called ethernet for the most part except when getting technical.