Che

Che can be used as a (part) diminutive of José. For example, a common nickname for José María or José Manuel is Chema.

The word CHE is a suffix from the Mapudungun language, this native language is still spoken in Southern Latin America including Argentina and Chile. The suffix 'che' means 'people'. For example 'curiche' meaning dark people (curi: black+che: people), 'mapuche' (mapu: earth, field+che: people) referring to those who belong to this native group. In Argentina, the term CHE was taken from Mapudungun and it is still used as a vocative only, but never as a name. -Spadilla, MA Linguist

Che & Cheo are Spanish nicknames for Jose in many parts of the world.