Why is New York called 紐約? New York (state and city) is called 紐約 (Niǔ​yuē).

Of course that sounds very much like the English "New York", but how come it's written with 紐 and 約?

When I look up the characters I get:

紐 knot; button; handle, knob; tie

約 treaty, agreement, covenant



Does the meaning of the characters have anything to do with them being used in this word, or is it simply that they sound similar to the English -- if so, why where these particular characters chosen to begin with and not some other characters that sound the same?
紐約 in Cantonese is nau2 joek3 (j- in jyutping is pronounced like y-). That's the closest Cantonese immigrants could come to New York, I suppose...

There aren't many syllabes in Cantonese that could match York:


jaak [ja:k]
jik
joek [jøk]
juk [jok] --> that last one could have been a better match.