Charles' Name

People often ask from where Charles' last name, Djou, comes. Charles' father was born in Shanghai, China, and raised in Hong Kong. His mother was raised in Bangkok, Thailand. Charles was raised here in Hawaii. Yet, he has this odd, French-sounding, last name.

It started in the 1920's. Charles' grandfather worked for a French engineering firm in Shanghai. His grandfather's French boss, who spoke only French and Chinese, gave him the French name "Dijou" which roughly sounds like Charles' family's Chinese name, "Zhou."

In 1948, during the communist revolution in China, Charles' grandfather fled to Hong Kong, which was then a British colony. Upon his arrival, the British asked Charles' grandfather to fill out immigration papers. Rather than write down his Chinese character, Charles' grandfather wrote down "Djou" - not knowing that this was actually French or that it was misspelled. Charles' father took this name to the United States, Charles was born with it and voilà, you have a local Chinese guy with a French sounding last name.