Richard Amerike, the Welsh merchant who funded John Cabot's first two expeditions to North America on condition that any territory found was named after him. They took place two years before Vespucci sailed to America. The reference to Amerigo Vespucci comes from notes on the earliest surviving map at the time. They basically state that the cartographer knew the land was referred to as America, and assumed this was because it was named after Vespucci. His assumption was disputed, so on the next version of the map he referred to it as "Terra Incognito". If it was named after Vespucci, he would have been pretty much the only person of that time to have anything names after their first name - discoveries were always named after the surname of the explorer / patron unless the patron was a monarch.
Richard Amerike was English of Taff descendants I was in the Royal Navy many years ago, so I do know these things.
