Are people named or called?

People are both named and called. You are "named" at birth by your parents, and "called" by other people during your lifetime.

In your examples, however, I would use neither verb.

"The first president of the United States, George Washington, never cut down a cherry tree."

That does not mean those verbs do not have their uses, however. Sometimes it improves the flow of a sentence or changes the emphasis to use "named" or "called" instead of an appositive.

"I saw a baseball player named Joe Jackson."

"I saw a baseball player called Shoeless Joe."

"I saw a baseball player, Shoeless Joe Jackson."