Rival explanations have been proposed (see Arciniegas, Germán. Amerigo and the New World: The Life & Times of Amerigo Vespucci. Translated by Harriet de Onís. New York: Octagon Books, 1978.) For example, some have speculated that the name's origin may lie with Richard AmerikeBBC, or with the region Amerrique in Nicaragua. None of these theories has been accepted in mainstream academia.
