Sport names...basketball, obvious. Baseball, duh. Football, again obvious.

Yeah, I should have been more specific. But still...cricket?

 

Hockey
Badminton
Jai Alai
Squash
Polo
Croquet
Softball
Draughts
Shot Put
etc.
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I thought of some of those, but wanted to keep it simple. There is a real softball league; the ball is soft and the players are gigantic. No gloves and there are home-run limits.

I included softball because when I was a wee tyke and first heard of it, I thought the ball was soft, much softer than a baseball. I was in the bleachers at a game that the older kids were playing, and I got clobbered in the head with a “softball”. I learned right then and there that it decidedly is not soft. I have never understood why it is named that way.

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Shot Put is fairly obvious.

"Shot" is a ball-like projectile used in firearms.
"Put" (noun) means "a throw of a shot or weight."

Some other early suggestions for the name of the sport were: Shot Throw, Shot Shot, Weight Toss, and Catch.
The last was quickly dropped due to the lack of interest in actually catching the tossed weight.
Bartenders objected to the Shot Shot name, as they believed people would think it was a drinking game.

Croquet = cricket, French style. Simplified.

But that’s in name only, correct? The game of cricket is not the exact same as the game of croquet, right?
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I believe the question was about names, correct me if I'm wrong? Same etymology, totally different game - except the bit about a ball hitting wickets.

 

  You’ve raised a good point.  Since Element 99 posted the question, he is the one who can best say whether or not it’s specifically about the etymology. I took it to be about whether or not certain games’ names are obvious as to why or how they refer to them, even without going into the etymology. Admittedly, it can be seen as etymological in nature, but it can also be seen as cultural or other closely related influences.
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  On the other hand, there are some games’ and/or sporting events’ names that make complete sense:

volleyball
tetherball
gymnastics
pole vault 
running
wrestling
bicycling
skiing
ice skating
rock climbing
darts
etc
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I was hoping Slarti would chime in on this.

He will.
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He's probably the only one on here who cares about cricket.

 

  Or the only one here who even knows anything about it.  Wait, we have some Brits on here every now and then.
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It's also popular in the West Indies, but my wife doesn't follow or care much about it.

It lost popularity in the West Indies due to too much money being thrown at other sports. The current state of West Indies cricket is a joke.
Cricket is still the most popular sport in the world after (European rules) football, due to its popularity in the Indian subcontinent - India has almost matched China in terms of population, add Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and you've got a third of the global population - and every last one of them cricket fanatics.

 

  I was going to name lacrosse on my list above, but I did not because I believe it derives directly from the French language and could be the word for the stick used in the sport. The same for the word racquet in racquetball. 

  I am not sure that my assumptions are correct, so I hesitated.
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The stick used in lacrosse is called a stick.  There is also a ball and a bunch of safety gear.

 

  I’m referring to what it’s called in the French language, which might show that it’s an obvious connection to the sport’s name. Here, I’ll look it up.

What difference does it make?

The name makes sense.

Racquet Ball Racquetball