Was Puerto Rico once spelled Porto Rico? Why was the spelling changed?

Answer 1

It seems someone in the navy made a grammar mistake and that is how Puerto Rico became Porto Rico. It became Puerto Rico again on:
May 17, 1932. Then, The Congress of the United States approved a law to change back the name of the island to "Puerto Rico" . The name had been used erroneously as "Porto Rico" by U. S. Navy personnel.

Here is the website:

http://www.puertoricousa.com/spanish/related_articles.htm

Answer 2

Porto means Port
Rico means rich

overtime the spelling changed to a different pronounciation so.. Puerto rico

Answer 3

I never heard of Porto Rico before, however I have heard of Borikén also Borinquen y Boriquén. I tell ya, They should have left it with the Taino name, it was so much better besides we are called Boricuas right.

Answer 4

The way I understand the Porto Rico spelling is in their language and I do not know why we do not pronounce it this way let along spell it this way. The only thing I could find was it's in their language for the spelling.

Answer 5

I'm unsure what is the reason that the name has been changed, maybe you can read up the details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico

But I'm pretty sure FAMOUS countries like these few did change their names from:

1. Netherlands to Holland
2. Burma to Myanmar
3. Togoland to Gold Coast and then to Ghana
4. Abyssinia to Ethiopia
5. Newfoundland to Canada
6. Siam to Thailand
7. Persia to Iran
8. Ceylon to Sri Lanka
9. Madras to Chennai
10. Bombay to Mumbai

You can find out more interesting facts in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changing_a_country_name#Significant_name_changes and http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/hist_country_names.htm and learn more new things today.

Also, visit http://www.posc.org/technical/reference/country.htm for more details on the country codes used in different regions.

Answer 6

Puerto is Spanish for Port ,Porto is Portugese
or maybe its Spanish from another place as well
like the many differences between English and American.

Answer 7

Yes. I used to have an atlas from 1913(?) with the old spelling. I guess the change was because puerto in Spanish means port.

Answer 8

Fun fact: Puerto Rico is also called BoriNquen and was known as Boriquen