IN 1775, just thirty years before Lewis and Clark made their historic journey to the Pacific Northwest, a Spanish sea· captain, Bruno Heceta, sailing up the Pacific coast of North America in the corvette Santiago, sighted the rugged coast below present-day Tillamook, Oregon, and recorded his impressions thereof in his diary.! Today two landmarks on the Oregon coast bear his name Heceta Head and H eceta Beach. Moreover, the bold sentinel which stands on H eceta Head is widely known as H eceta Head Lighthouse or simply as H eceta Head Light. In addition, the marine shalf which lies some thirty miles off the headland is known to navigators as Heceta Bank. But for two quite different pronunciations now current for H eceta within a relatively small area, we might rapidly pass over the names Heceta Head and Heceta Beach, since the naming of landmarks after exploreres and navigators follows a common pattern. These two distinct pronunciations for H eceta, prevailing not only along the Oregon coast but generally throughout the state, are [he' sita] and ['hekata]. Each is used widely by a large group of native speakers, there being also those speakers who use both pronunciations. In addition, the Castilian pronunciation of H eceta is sometimes cited as a third possibility;2 any such pronunciation, however, must be dismissed as an amusing pedantry having no place, except historical, in a toponymic analysis. Traditionally the name H eceta (also written H ezeta in older documents) is pronounced [e'f)eta] in Castile; in Southern Spain and throughout Hispanic America it is usually pronounced [e'seta]. It is common knowledge that throughout Spanish-speaking America