Players with nationalities you didnt expect based on their name

[The Hanging Jowl]

byfuglien

Agreed. I would have assumed Krypton.

 

[DieSendungmitderMaus]

Christ, has every single poster on these boards now quoted the racism post?

I definetly thought Bo Horvat was czech. Back in the day when I didn't watch hockey but only played video games I thought some guys with German names like Niedermayer might be German. Maybe that's why I'm still annoyed when people write ei instead of ie in names or vice versa, because in German those are very different sounds

 

[Joel Ward]

I occasionally forget that Robin Lehner isn't German.

 

[Future GOAT]

McDavid not being from the highlands of scotland is an outrage.

First thing I think of when I see the name McDavid, is Irish. Most people are thinking Irish and that's what it is.

I'm sure there are a lot of McDavid's in Scotland but it is as Irish a last name as they come.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Is Gretzky from the Ukraine or something?

 

[Thrasymachus]

Sebastian Aho confused me.
Couldn’t figure out if he was Finn or Swede few years ago

he is both ;P

 

[Dust]

Probably just me but it throws me that Anders Lee is American. Mostly just his first name that makes me think he's from somewhere in Europe.

 

[Future GOAT]

Is Gretzky from the Ukraine or something?

The last name is of Belarusian heritage same as mine.

 

[kilowatt]

Ah, yes, the Arthur Kaliyev thread. He plays for Team USA.

 

[Kristopher Letang]

I didn’t know Oduya was from Sweden

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I really don’t have any names to add- the NHL has so many European players that I often just assume the last name is representative of where they were born. Then I learn they were actually born in Toronto or something and I remember to appreciate immigration and multiculturalism.

 

[PatrikBerglund]

Peter Worrell is Swedish and Andreas Lilja Canadian.

Kind of.

 

[Zenos]

As others have written, there's obviously tons of American and Canadian players with non-anglo (or French) surnames. The thing is, they usually have more typically English first names like Joe Sakic, Steve Staios, Scott Niedermeyer, Tie Domi, Keith Tkachuck, Devan Dubnyk, Kyle Palmieri, Joe Pavelski, Zach Warenski etc. Growing up in western Canada, those kinds of names (my own included!) were incredibly common. I'd never assume those players were actually Poles, Croats, Ukrainians, Germans, Italians, etc.

It's when both names sound European that I'm sometimes thrown off. Milan Lucic for instance was one. Or Wojtek Wolski. One which surprised me more recently was Marco Rossi (Ottawa 67s / Minnesota Wild pick). The name is obviously super Italian - but I actually just assumed he was either North American (think Fernando Pisani) or maybe Swiss. I definitely wasn't expecting Austrian.

 

[93LEAFS]

I guess since there are almost no players from Britain/U.K., Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, or France that a ton of those just get passed off as being Canadian or American due to those countries making up a large portion of early immigration to North America. Since, unless you are native there is no typical Canadian/American last name. Obviously, there are players like Ryan Johansen or Jake Virtanen whose last names are typically associated with Nordic countries where there are tons of players from but their first names aren't typical of Swedes or Finns.

 

[Bellefour20]

Steve Thomas - England
Owen Nolan - Ireland

Their names make sense for the countries they were born, but they fit as Canadian as well. Their birth countries weren't thought of as traditional hockey markets.

 

[93LEAFS]

As others have written, there's obviously tons of American and Canadian players with non-anglo (or French) surnames. The thing is, they usually have more typically English first names like Joe Sakic, Steve Staios, Scott Niedermeyer, Tie Domi, Keith Tkachuck, Devan Dubnyk, Kyle Palmieri, Joe Pavelski, Zach Warenski etc. Growing up in western Canada, those kinds of names (my own included!) were incredibly common. I'd never assume those players were actually Poles, Croats, Ukrainians, Germans, Italians, etc.

It's when both names sound European that I'm sometimes thrown off. Milan Lucic for instance was one. Or Wojtek Wolski. One which surprised me more recently was Marco Rossi (Ottawa 67s / Minnesota Wild pick). The name is obviously super Italian - but I actually just assumed he was either North American (think Fernando Pisani) or maybe Swiss. I definitely wasn't expecting Austrian.

I think Wolski was actually born in Poland, but was raised in the GTA area. Agreed with the first names usually being a bit of a giveaway. The big thing is a lot of those players have last names from countries that produce almost no NHLers, so that combined with the first name is usually a North American. But, someone like William or Alexander Nylander could just as easily be a kid from Minnesota. Reminds me of that hyped WHL kid Alex Forsberg who was from Saskatchewan. Probably because the name Forsberg is so associated with Swedish hockey.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

I assumed Zajac was just another good Czech player the devils found. I think around 2010 I figured out he was from Winnipeg.

Fun fact. Zajac in Russian means bunny.

 

[McDNicks17]

I was a little surprised Nick Jensen was American after being familiar with the Nicklas Jensen who was Danish.

 

[Macbanan]

I didn’t know Oduya was from Sweden

Both Oduya and Kylington grew up in Stockholm with one African and one Swedish parent. A 10 year old Oliver Kylington got an autograph from Oduya and apparently sees him as his mentor, thanking him after his first NHL goal and so on.

 

[93LEAFS]

Steve Thomas - England
Owen Nolan - Ireland

Their names make sense for the countries they were born, but they fit as Canadian as well. Their birth countries weren't thought of as traditional hockey markets.

Both were also raised in Southern Ontario and represented Canada internationally. Although, their names don't stand out to the same extent something like Wojtech Wolski or Stanislav Mikita does, despite having almost the exact same background (kids who were raised in Canada and immigrated at a young age). As someone who grew up in Toronto, I hardly think of the origin of someone's last name given that growing up unless someone had an atypical first name, since the make-up of people in your elementary schools last names would widely vary from British, Polish, French, Italian, Serbian, Chinese, etc. It didn't really make anyone more or less Canadian.

 

[East Coast Icestyle]

I remember being very surprised when I first heard Adrien Plavsic was Canadian. He came into the NHL in 1990 when Europeans were not as numerous and it threw a few for a loop.



Actually he's Canadian. Born in Winnipeg. btw - his dad Tie, who is also Canadian, also played in the NHL.

If you followed the chain of quotes I was speaking about their heritage and not their nationality, as I had pointed out that Zibanejad had Iranian roots. Max Domi's family is of Albanian descent. Much like Kadri's is Labanese, yet he is Canadian.

 

[Realgud]

Robert Lang never stood out as a czech name. Especially since there's a ton of lang that are french canadian

What? I'm french canadian and I've never seen someone with the last name "Lang".

 

[Nunymare]

I was for sure Pastrnak was Swedish, you'd also think Slater Koko (not even going to try the correct spelling) was from somewhere in Scandinavia, not Canadian.

I also at first thought Braden Holtby was German for some reason

Koekkoek is a Dutch surname I believe.

 

[Volica]

As someone with a very foreign sounding name IRL, who is Canadian born and raised; I've never made too many assumptions on nationality

I remember being a kid and learning Hnat Domenichelli was Edmonton born and raised, and was like,"that does not sound very Edmontonian." and my dad being like, "does your name sound very Calgarian "

That said, Sasha Barkov being Finnish still throws me for a loop.

 

[The Podium]

I think it’s less strange when they’re Canadian since Canada is a melting pot of different ethnicities so it isn’t uncommon for a Canadian player to have a name that is Russian or Italian or Arabic etc even though most tend to think of Canadian names rooted from Scotland, Ireland, England.