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One currently-airing anime series has the title 「小林さんちのメイドラゴン」, with the official English translation of "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid." It's not hard to see how the English comes fairly directly from the Japanese (though losing the mild wordplay in「メイドラゴン」), but I'm not sure what the ち is doing. It seems like removing it would have no effect on the English translation of the phrase.

My best guess is that this ち is related to [家]{うち}, perhaps indicating that the dragon maid in question belongs to the Kobayashi household, rather than the person. Is this correct?

This question is not a duplicate of this question about ん家, which explains the 〜んち construction, but does not directly mention ~さんちの and how it may be equivalent or distinct.

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    Possible duplicate of What does "石井ん家" (abbreviation) mean?
    – Avery
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 13:16
  • @Avery That does answer the question, but I'm not sure if it's really the same question, since it comes from the other direction and you'd have to already know the answer to know that question would be helpful.
    – Lucas Y.
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 13:26
  • There was a different question hidden here that is not answered on the duplicate question. Namely, "How does 〜さんちの differ from 〜さんの".
    – Earthliŋ ♦
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 14:13
  • I've edited the question to highlight the distinction. (Thanks @Earthliŋ for helping me figure out how to express it.)
    – Lucas Y.
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 14:40
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    @LucasY. "Duplicate" on StackExchange means the answer is elsewhere, not that the question is verbatim copy. There is nothing either wrong or shameful about posting a duplicate question. People have different ways of asking and searching for information. The purpose for closing is to avoid answers being posted in different places. Your question will remain and point to the other one.
    – macraf
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 15:02

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Indeed, this ち is 家【ち】. See What does "石井ん家" (abbreviation) mean?

Saying ◯◯さんち is like "the Joneses" and gives the phrase a familiar tone. It is a very common and familiar phrase and certainly shouldn't be taken as a strict way of saying "it's not 小林さん's dragon, but rather belongs to the whole household". It does indeed include this information, suggesting the dragon is part of the household's daily life, but in a light-hearted manner.

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