Updated January 3, 2024

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Family name origins & meanings

  • Italian : from the personal name Chino, a short form of Franceschino, a diminutive of Francesco (see Francis).
  • Spanish : ethnic name for somebody from China, or possibly also nickname for someone thought to bear a resemblance to Chinese or Asian people.
  • Japanese : in modern times this name is written with characters meaning ‘field of miscanthus reeds’, but there could be an ancient connection to the name Chinu, which is recorded in the Shinsen shōjiroku with a character meaning ‘strange’ or ‘unusual’ but actually may have denoted the reeds.