They are called hit points in D&D, video games borrowed the term from there. There are no health bars in pen-and-paper RPGs, except for the granola ones that hippies eat.
Gary Gygax could have called them "health points," but he didn't -- probably because D&D evolved from tabletop war games, which are generally more concerned with how many hits a unit can take (as opposed to how much health a hero has).
Gary Gygax could have called them "health points," but he didn't -- probably because D&D evolved from tabletop war games, which are generally more concerned with how many hits a unit can take (as opposed to how much health a hero has).