Cho Chang's Name

[uncmark]

No: HPFGUIDX 35975

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "saturnvenus84" <SaturnVenus84 at m...> wrote:
> > My personal favorite is the third one, but if anyone knows how 
the 
> name was 
> > actually translated in the Chinese version that would settle the 
> question 
> > rather effectively. 
> 
> Zhang Qiu. That's the name used in China (mainland). Taken from: 
> http://www.cjvlang.com/Hpotter/index.html
> 
> "For 'Chang', both Mainland and Chinese translations choose the 
> common Chinese surname Zhang1, often written 'Chang' by Taiwanese 
and 
> overseas Chinese, who do not use the pin'yin romanisation. 
> 
> The given name 'Cho' has to be guessed at. The sound 'cho' doesn't 
> occur in pin'yin, but could be equivalent to zhuo, chuo, chou, 
zhou, 
> zhe, che, qiu or even jiu - take your pick! The problem is finding 
a 
> nice-sounding, plausible character that would be suitable as a 
girl's 
> name. The translators choose Qiu1, meaning 'autumn'."

It's not disclosed where Cho is from. Is she an native-born English 
citizen whose family had immigrated several generations before or 
just her parents? Might she have been born in China (or some 
undisclosed Asian country. China was not mentioned in the books.) 
There is no mention in the Harry Potter Lexicon of birthplace or 
specific ethnicity, merely "born in 1979".

'Cho' might be an anglicized nickname for a much longer given name, I 
know my sister, born in Germany, was named 'Angelina Maria Anna' 
after several aunts, but went by Nina growing up.

An interesting twist for future books might be the introduction of 
foreign wizards and have Cho related to some from the orient.

Uncmark