Players who are surprisingly not from Europe

[OKR]

Olaf Kölzig, no Canadian or US citizenship but still not even born in Europe.

His both parents are 100% German as are majority of his relatives, he just happened to born in South-Africa and moved to Canada as a child.

 

[Namejs]

Russians who were born East of Ural Mountains technically aren’t from Europe

Well, no. The ones born West of the Ural mountains are 'technically' European, but neither actually are European.

 

[DieSendungmitderMaus]

I definetly had Bo Horvat down as a Czech. Eric Gudbranson as a swede too, until I saw him play.

 

[Jee]

Robbie Ftorek for me

 

[ValeriKamensky]

Niskanen for sure

 

[TanguaySauce]

Ryan Johansen being from BC always tripped me up

 

[Albatros]

His both parents are 100% German as are majority of his relatives, he just happened to born in South-Africa and moved to Canada as a child.

Thus never lived in Germany for any meaningful period of time besides visiting relatives in Augsburg and playing a handful of games in Berlin late in his career during the lockout in 2005. Was going to play for Team Canada at the WJC in 1990 but only at that point it turned out that he wasn't eligible. Soon after he then met the German player Stefan Ustorf in Washington and told him about the situation, after which he was recruited by the Germans.

 

[HFpapi]

This upcoming draft is chocked full of them.

Zeev Buium is expected to go top 5. This entire time I thought he was Latvian or something but he's American.

Cayden Lindstrom (also projected to go top 5) I thought was Swedish because I usually only saw his name as C. Lindstrom.

Terik Parascak also Canadian.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Ryan Johansen being from BC always tripped me up

I always assumed hecwas Swedish. Was shocked to find out he was canadian in 2022.

I thought Lucas Raymond was canadian until recently.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

I used to think Stamkos was Finnish or something

Why does he look like a female you see in a Horror film in this pic? Usually he looks very manly.

 

[Buck Naked]

This thread makes me think of..

 

[Shark Finn]

Opposite way: Douglas Murray the surprising Swede

Another one: Pius Suter

 

[Plastic Joseph]

the opposite is Douglas Murray being from Sweden

 

[Zenos]

The first names are almost always a giveaway that a player is North American.

Kuemper, Bayreuther, Guenther, Eichel, Eberle, etc. are obviously all German names. But then you see "Darcy, Gavin, Dylan, Jack, and Jordan" - Those just aren't names that Germans, Swiss, or Austrians give their kids.

It's the same with other European countries / languages. Ray Ferraro, Kyle Palmieri, Jason Spezza or John Tavares. Pretty clearly those guys are Canadian or American with names like that. Guys like Fernando Pisani and Milan Lucic where the whole name "looks" European are the exceptions.

Obviously UK/Ireland and France are exceptions. But none of those countries are producing large amounts of pro hockey players.

 

[Norwegianoiler]

Rule of thumb: If you can swap someone's first and second names without issue, then they're North American. For example, Mason Jonathan is as likely to be correct as Jonathan Mason. Dakota Joshua doesn't make any more sense than Joshua Dakota. Even more likely if the names are found nowhere else than perhaps a long lost fantasy novel, e.g. your Drudger Clint, Pressler Trambert or Macklin Celebrini, though that has a sprinkle of the old Italian on it.

 

[Zenos]

Another one: Pius Suter

Really? how many kids from Regina, Oshawa, or Lansing, Michigan are named Pius?

 

[Mathieukferland]

I thought Joël L’espérance (Joel the hope) would be from Québec but he’s actually from Michigan

 

[namttebih]

Michael Rasmussen should be from Sweeden. Mika Zibanejad should not.

Also, William Nylander sounds totally Swedish, but it turns out that he's just a rich kid from Calgary. I'm assuming that his dad must be an oil exec?

 

[elFefino SVOBODA]

I used to think Stamkos was Finnish or something

I also thought so until he grew a beard, then couldnt be finnish!

 

[Zenos]

Michael Rasmussen should be from Sweeden. Mika Zibanejad should not.

Also, William Nylander sounds totally Swedish, but it turns out that he's just a rich kid from Calgary. I'm assuming that his dad must be an oil exec?

Joke right?

Willy is Swedish. His dad Michael played for the Flames at the time of his birth.

 

[Namejs]

This upcoming draft is chocked full of them.

Zeev Buium is expected to go top 5. This entire time I thought he was Latvian or something but he's American.

Cayden Lindstrom (also projected to go top 5) I thought was Swedish because I usually only saw his name as C. Lindstrom.

Terik Parascak also Canadian.

Right, the classic Latvian name Zeev Buium. If there's one thing anyone knows about Latvian names, surely it's that every name must end with an -s

 

[namttebih]

Joke right?

Willy is Swedish. His dad Michael played for the Flames at the time of his birth.

Yes. Joke.

 

[Albatros]

Joke right?

Willy is Swedish. His dad Michael played for the Flames at the time of his birth.

 

[Realgud]

At least as of 20 years ago, Lee was the 39th most common name in the UK.

Appendix:English surnames (England and Wales) - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.m.wiktionary.org

On the other hand, it was the 22nd most common name in the USA, which has around 5 times the population of the UK.

Lists of most common surnames in North American countries - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

So, someone named Lee is far more likely to be from the USA than from the UK, and unlikely to be from continental Europe.

All that said, “Anders” is a very Scandinavian sounding name and that’s probably what the person found surprising.

Thanks for the in-depth explanation. East asian was my first thought so I was wondering why it could be considered more european than north american as I would have guessed the east asian population percentage could be pretty similar on one continent or the other. Had no idea it was a common english name!

 

[Perfect_Drug]

What nationality did you think Trochek was, I don't recall any European players named Vincent?

Vincent is a very european name.

Ever heard of Vincent Van Gogh?