One absurd name vs. another. "Indian" is the result of a mistake by an outsider, which probably isn't that unusual if one goes digging into the names for various ethnic groups. "Native American" feels artificial, but more importantly isn't accurate either. The native Americans would be the descendants of the American colonists, the founding people of a nation; not those who were conquered by these people. The people we call Native Americans might better be described as aboriginal, or as in Canada "first nations".