Likely Not to Be Forgotten" by his classmates, sometimes reported as "Most Likely to Be Remembered" by several media reports about Cunanan.

After graduating from high school in 1987, Cunanan enrolled at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), where he majored in American history. In San Diego, Cunanan began using the surname DeSilva to disassociate himself from his Filipino heritage and present a Portuguese origin. He also adopted a more elaborate fake background,