Originally Cupertino was a village known as Westside in what was then the Fremont Township area. Here is the story of how the name Cupertino was adopted instead and where the name Cupertino came from in the first place. Also some illuminating facts about the very first Cupertino non-Indian settler and an unbelievable flying Saint.

John Doyle was a turn of the Century San Francisco lawyer, living in Westside. Doyle was a history buff and he began searching for a proper historical name to give to his land holdings. His research led him to information dealing with a Spanish expeditionary force led by Juan Batista DeAnza. Doyle discovered that this explorer and his party had bivouacked in 1776 near what today is Blackberry Farm.

To mark the occasion the DeAnza party’s cartographer drew a map of the campsite and labeled a nearby creek (Stevens Creek) "Rio de San Joseph Cupertino" Thus the Spanish cartographer honored an Italian Saint in the Catholic Church born in Cupertino, Italy. The man behind this honor being bestowed was a sergeant in this Spanish party who was Italian. He prevailed upon the cartographer to do so.

A delighted Doyle thus christened his home and winery, which were located at a nearby site on McClelland Road CUPERTINO. But it didn’t stop there.   Shortly afterward in 1904 the Home Union Store decided to change its name to the Cupertino Union Store. Following suit the U.S. Post office, located in the store, also changed its destination from Westside to Cupertino. Eventually in 1955 Cupertino was incorporated as a city.

The Cupertino name, however, did not remain on the creek. In 1848, 72 years after the encampment of the De Anza party, Elisha Stephens became the first white man to settle in the area. He named the creek after himself. Stephens had been the guide of the famous Murphy party in 1844 that became the first wagon train to cross the Sierras. Stephens had brought them through a pass he had discovered. But instead of Stephens Pass it took on the name of the tragic Donner Party. They had used the pass two years later. They made it through the pass but only after being stranded for the winter of 1846 in the Sierras. Only 45 out of the 83 who began this encampment survived. Some were suspected of reverting to cannibalism to do so. To add insult to injury when the U.S. geological Survey adopted Stephen’s name for the creek they misspelled it Stevens. I think poor Elisha Stephens deserves a statue in front of "The Home of the Powerful Pioneers. We need to commemorate his great "Pioneer" contributions to the "Great Western Migration".

Elisha Stephens was the very first non native to settle in the area now known as Cupertino in the 1840s. He left in the 1860s because he felt..."it was getting too crowded".

The name Cupertino goes back to 900 A.D. In southern Italy, very near the heel of the Italian peninsula, a man named Cuperio united several small villages into a principality that he named Cupertini. As the years went by the language of Italy gradually shifted from Latin to Italian.  With the changing linguistics in Italy "Cupertini" became "Cupertino". As time went by and the language of Italy kept changing the original Cupertino name evolved into "Copertino". It still bares this name today.

An artistic rendering of one of thousands of
similar levitations by St. Joseph.

A humble Catholic priest named Joseph Dias would bring fame to this humble village, whether you call it Cupertino or Copertino, as "The Flying Saint". When moved to a state of spiritual ecstasy Joseph Dias would levitate or fly. Observers say he would let out a shout and bounce in the air like a rubber ball. Once in the air he would remain for one, two or three hours, while people came running to observe his flights of faith. Doctors and scientists would test him and try to discover how levitations like these were possible.
                                                          
These fights began when he was 25 years old and continued until his death at the age of 60.  He levitated at least once every day and often more than this. It has been calculated that these flights were repeated thousands of times and were watched by a hundred thousand people or more. These witnesses included priests, bishops, Cardinals and even the Pope. Had we known this, when Cupertino High School was founded, instead of the Pioneers, we might well have chosen to be the Cupertino Flyers.

Joseph Desa, like Jesus, was born in a stable. He came from a family that was fairly well off, but prior to Joseph’s birth his father went broke because he was so generous. He signed promissory notes to help some friends but when his "friends" disappeared he had to answer for the debts. Thus Joseph’s father had to leave their home and live in the poor country side outside of Cupertino. This explains why Joseph was born in a stable.

When Joseph reached school age he fell seriously ill. He finally got well five years later and was too old to go back to school. He could not hold a job because every now and again he was spellbound, lost and somewhere else. The people who lived with him thought that he was slow-witted. Quite possibly at these times Joseph was enthralled by an invisible world of spirit only he could see. When his father died the bailiffs began to look for Joseph to pay off his father’s debts. To escape arrest he went to a convent near Cupertino. Here the brothers noticed the great goodness of the young man and how great his faith and inner spiritual life was.

Joseph’s exemplary conduct began to attract people. Many of them asked him for advice and his answers were so highly illuminating that his superiors decided to have him study to be a priest. Joseph did not know how he could pass the theological examinations because he was in fact illiterate. In desperation he prayed and on every occasion something strange and unforeseen occurred. Joseph was passed without taking his exams and was ordained a priest simply because of his goodness. Everyone knew he was ignorant but they also knew that within him there was serene, innate knowledge.  In fact many professors of theology, bishops and even cardinals went to him to ask his advice when they had problems.

The fame that the flights of ecstasy brought to Joseph, made some among the ranks of the Catholic Church jealous. As a result he was called before the Court of Inquisition. There he underwent three trials. But even before these fearsome judges he went into ecstasy and rose off the ground. The frightened judges did not have the courage to condemn him. They instead passed them on to the Vatican Court in Rome with their recommendation that he be found guilty by that Court.  Such was Joseph’s joy of being brought to questioning in the presence of the Pope that he bounced immediately into flight, flying high over the heads of the Pope and most of the Catholic churche's Cardinals. This distinguished audience all immediately became admirers of Joseph as they watched in wonder, his joyous, aerobatics.

He was never condemned by the Court of Inquisitions but for the rest of his life he was considered "suspect" by them. They were determined to keep him under control and to put a brake on his popularity. To this end they would intervene with restrictions and regulations unique only to Joseph. He was moved from convent to convent and always required to live in exile wherever he was transferred.

The last six years of his life were spent in Osimo. These years were relatively serene and tranquil. He retained his spiritual joy, submitting to Devine Providence and keeping Lents of 40 days each year. He died quickly and quietly on September 18, 1663 after having a high fever. He had been Beautified on February 1753 by Pope Benedict XIV and was Canonized on July 16, 1767 as Saint Joseph of Cupertino by Pope Clement XIII.

He is officially the Saint that Italian students  taking exams say their prayers to.  I know a lot of you out there are probably saying…. "There were times as a student at Cupertino I could have used a little help from St. Joseph…nowwww you tell me".
                        

The proper pronunciation of Cupertino has often been debated.  The definitive answer is provided by Lewis Stocklmeir, the acknowledged Dean of all Cupertino Historians. Born in1892, he himself passed into history 90 years young in 1982.

COOP-ertino is totally wrong because this 1ST syllable doesn’t even exist. A lot of old timers who have always used the "Q" pronunciation are wrong too. Stocklmeir says the phonetics go back to Latin used in the time of Cuperio. In Latin, "cu" has to be "coo", there is no "Q" sound with that sort of spelling. So it’s "COO-pertino".


Please everyone in the Fremont High School District Office be herewith informed that the official shortened version of Cupertino High School is not COOP. This has nothing to do with Latin. That syllable doesn’t even exist. The official shortened version for Cupertino High School is TINO. TINO was introduced by former CHS teacher and coach Bill Frost in 1968 and immediately embraced by students, faculty, parents and the community at large. It has been in common usage for over 37 years.  Because COOP is so often associated with CHICKEN COOP we naturally find it offensive. We, as well as St. Joseph, thank you for your consideration on this small but important phonetic issue.





800 CHS students spelling out "Tino" in 1976...
We rest our case