Meaning and background
The story behind Chico
Chico can be two quite different things. In Portuguese personal naming it is an affectionate short form of Francisco, usually beginning with a sh sound. In Spanish, chico is an everyday word for a boy, young person or someone small, ordinarily beginning with ch. Both connections are documented, but they should not be collapsed into one etymology. A family's language determines which interpretation and pronunciation, if either, they intended.
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Everyday moments“Chico, come here!”
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About Chico
Recorded as a dog’s name
Chico appears in 84 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/tʃikoʊ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/tʃikoʊ/ · primary stress on syllable 1CH IY1 K OW2
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.