>>Well, portuguese have been around there for a long time (see http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/portam/cabrilho.html - what would you know, this is under the "Hispanic Division"!).
>>
>Interesting and so typical of history!
>
>“On September 28, 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo landed at San Diego Bay”.
>
>I enjoyed the spelling of his name in the reference you gave me - João Rodrigues Cabrilho. As is so typical of history things become distorted. I would like to know why we were taught the Castellano spelling? He is a very famous person in California History. We even have streets named after him - with the Castellano spelling.

To be honest, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo is closer to ancient portuguese spelling: in 17th-18th century portuguese (I'm not at ease with previous periods) the most common spelling would be something like Joam Rodriguez Cabrillo. The use of the tilde to nasalize phonemes is a modern solution.