Chino Family History

Hispanic (mainly Mexico): from Mexican Spanish adjective chino ‘curly’. This surname is also common among Native Americans (Pueblos) in NM.

Hispanic and Amerindian (Peru and Bolivia): nickname from chino ‘person of mixed Amerindian and European parentage’ or ‘servant’ a word of Quechuan origin.

Italian: from the personal name Chino, a short form of Franceschino, a diminutive of Francesco (see Francis).

Japanese: in modern times this name is written 茅野 ‘field of miscanthus reeds’ or 千野 ‘thousand fields’, but there could be an ancient connection to the name Chinu, which is recorded in the Shinsen shōjiroku with the character 珍 meaning ‘strange’ or ‘unusual’, although actually it may have denoted the reeds.