Comments for the name Amerigo   Comments for AMERIGO:  This is
the name of the character who appears in the 1st scene of "The
Godfather", the undertaker Amerigo Bonasera. I think this name
was picked for this character in order to symbolize an
immigrant's disillusionment with America. -- lady murasaki
 8/3/2007 It's highly unlikely that America got it's name from
Amerigo Vespucci and it's practically unheard of for places to
be named after an explorer's first name. The origin is closer
linked to Richard Ameryk who was the financier of John Calbot's
voyage which landed in North America. The older British maps
have America on it and when Italian mapmakers saw the word, it
was assumed it was after Vespucci who explored the coast of
South America. -- Anonymous User  1/8/2008 Highly unlikely that
the name of America comes from Ameryk - it comes from a mistake
that the mapmaker Waldseemuller made on his worldmap which
showed the discoveries of Amerigo Vespucci. Waldseemuller
thought that Vespucci and not Columbus w