Why is Cristiano Ronaldo known as “C罗” in Chinese?

Question

I see Cristiano Ronaldo is often referred as C罗 in Chinese. I find it curious because:

This is not a nickname pattern followed in any other player name, and
罗 isn't even part of the full name transliteration 基斯坦奴·朗拿度, which would have led to a shorter name.

How did C罗 originated or why it is called like this?

基斯坦奴·朗拿度 is the Hong Kong transliteration, We do call him C.朗 — Tang Ho, Jul 05 '18 at 18:19
We now have James Rodriguez as J.罗, following the same pattern — jf328, Jul 09 '18 at 11:02
C罗 once called 小小罗 and 迷你罗， and 迷你罗 is given to C罗‘s son. — sfy, Jul 10 '18 at 11:56

Mou某 · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-07T02:57:20.353

10

C for Cristiano
罗 for 罗纳尔多 (Ronaldo)

Apparently before him:

Ronaldo (罗纳尔多) (Luís Nazário de Lima) was known as 大罗
Ronaldinho (罗纳尔迪尼奥) was called 小罗

So, with big (大) and little (小) already taken, the first letter of his first name was given to him instead.

As for 朗 vs. 罗:

It seems that 朗 is Cantonese (Hong Kong, Macao) while 罗 is Mandarin (Mainland, Singapore, Taiwan).

edited Jul 07 '18 at 02:57

answered Jul 05 '18 at 18:08

Mou某

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Do you know why there are two versions of his surname? 罗纳尔多 and 朗拿度? – marcanuy Jul 05 '18 at 18:12
In Hong Kong, Ronaldo (朗拿度) is nicknamed '大哨' and Ronaldinho(朗拿甸奴 ) is nicknamed '細哨' because both of them has 哨牙 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/48091/ – Tang Ho Jul 05 '18 at 18:24
@TangHo How bizarre. Is it just a coincidence that both Mandarin & Cantonese split them as 大/小 but for different reasons? 大朗 and 小朗 don't seem to be things. – Mou某 Jul 05 '18 at 18:28
While we are at it, the Williams sisters (Venus and Serena ) are nicknamed 大威 and 細威 respectively because Williams is transliterated as 威廉斯 in Cantonese – Tang Ho Jul 05 '18 at 18:32
@user3306356 we don't call them 大朗 and 細朗 in Cantonese – Tang Ho Jul 05 '18 at 18:34
@TangHo Exactly, so my question was: Is it just a coincidence that both Mandarin & Cantonese split them as 大/小 but for different reasons? Doesn't it seem like quite a coincidence? – Mou某 Jul 05 '18 at 18:34
@user3306356 It is a coincidence for sure. We Cantonese like to nickname people base on their appearance and traits more, (better to make fun of); as for 大威 , 細威-- the character 威 has the meaning of 'awesome' that suit them very well too. – Tang Ho Jul 05 '18 at 18:36
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I suggest to use "big" and "little", not "small", to translate 大 and 小 when you mention 大罗 and 小罗. – Bruce Huang Jul 05 '18 at 18:38
@BruceHuang Alright, I took your suggestion on board and edited it. – Mou某 Jul 07 '18 at 02:57
@user3306356 It's Chinese behavior, If someone is called 小XX，it means he is similar to XX，either his appearance, characteristics, style or skills. To differentiate them, people call Ronaldo 大罗. – sfy Jul 10 '18 at 11:53
Here in Brazil Ronaldo was first called "Ronaldinho" ("小Ronaldo" in Portuguese). When he was still playing, Ronaldinho came up and we differentiated them adding "Gaúcho" (the state he was born at) to the latter and then we had Ronaldinho and Ronaldinho Gaúcho. Slowly we started calling Ronaldo as Ronaldo Fenômeno ("fenomenon" in Portuguese) and Ronaldinho as Ronaldinho Gaúcho, until we came up with plain Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. Maybe 小罗 was a Portuguese language influence and they came up with 大罗 opposing 小 with 大. – Enrico Brasil Jul 10 '18 at 17:34

Why is Cristiano Ronaldo known as “C罗” in Chinese?

1 Answers1