In Portuguese, Chiquita [shee-KEE-ta] is a diminuitive of
Chica [SHEE-ka], which is a nickname for
Francisca.
In Spanish, "chiquita" [tchee-kee-tah] simply means "little girl" ("chica" means "girl"). I imagine using it as given name among non-Spanish speakers would be inspired by similar-sounding Spanish names like
Bonita,
Juanita,
Lolita, etc.
This message was edited 7/12/2019, 2:22 PM