The finest bridge in all Peru

On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.

A very nice opening sentence indeed.

I think I've always heard "San Luis Rey" given a French pronunciation, but now that I'm actually reading the story, I wonder why it's not given a Spanish pronunciation. The spelling, afterall, is Spanish and the story is located in Peru. Granted the bridge was named after the 13th century French sovereign, but in a story set 500 years later and 5,ooo miles from Paris, the Spanish pronunciation seems more appropriate to me.

So I got to wondering: Am I misremembering how I've heard it pronounced over the years. Is it really given the French pronunciation?

• Well, dictionary.com gives it an American pronunciation, with Spanish as an alternative. A pronouncing gazeteer in Google Books also gives an American pronunciation.
• A glossary of names in San Diego County, however, gives the French pronunciation. (San Diego County?! That's another post entirely!)
• A YouTube-r pronounces "Luis" "Louise," which I suppose is a nod toward the Spanish. Another amateur videocaster prefers the French, while a third opts for the Spanish.
• The trailer for the movie -- Deniro, Bates, Abraham . . . who knew? -- manages not to pronounce the title at all.

I take from all this that you can pronounce the title any way you like. As for me, I stick with the French.

Update: In that first sentence, the second verb looks a little strange, doesn't it? No. It is absolutely perfect. From the OED: "1. To throw (a person) suddenly or violently into a particular state or condition, esp. an undesirable one."