[1] Cristóbal, the son of Juan de Vaca, was born in colonial Mexico City around 1567.
When the Spaniards reconquered the territory in 1693, a Manuel Baca and his family were among those who returned to Santa Fe.
After arriving in New Mexico, they soon began living on land in Bernalillo previously owned by Manuel's father.
The surname "Baca" is often assumed to be a variation of the name "Cabeza de Vaca", which means "head of a cow" in Spanish.
The two possible origins of this name are: Some researchers have discovered an erroneous link between Crístobal Baca's wife Ana Ortíz and Christopher Columbus, among others.
At least three separate articles published in genealogical journals have identified this man as Francisco Pacheco de Cordóva.
[9] The problem with this finding is that Francisco Pacheco de Córdova, and presumably his wife, would have been too young to be the parents of Ana Ortíz.
In 1988, Dr. Eric Beerman reviewed the research that had been done on Cabeza de Vaca, and did not discover any information that this explorer had any direct descendants, but he did not completely rule out that possibility.