Nationality as a Surname only in Czech or Slovak?

[Zenos]

It isn't super common, but these surnames exist in English too. "English" and "French" for example are surnames. So are country names like "Ireland" or "Holland".

And then there are many "imported" (from other languages) names which follow the same idea: Polak, Tedesco, Hollande, Horvat

 

[SEALBound]

In the US, state names are certainly more popular.

Montana, Washington, Virginia, Nevada, Robert California from the office, Kansas, Carolina, and I imagine there's a girl named Florida because why wouldn't there be.

 

[Kuljeskelen]

Ken Holland, former goaltender, 4 games as a Whalers and Red Wings player.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Steve French was the name for this large cat.

 

[Elvs]

"Svensk" (Swede) is a surname in Sweden albeit not a very common one.

 

[Chainshot]

What about author Philip K. Dick?

 

[mattihp]

Ken Holland, former goaltender, 4 games as a Whalers and Red Wings player.

Holland is a region of the Netherlands, but almost!

 

[Coffey]

Robert California from the office

His name was Bob Kazamakis!

 

[IamNotADancer]

Way to give away you don't get out of the country much.

Naming customs are universal and people have always been named after their profession, their location and even their crimes.

Summer thread or not this is dumb.

 

[Reality Czech]

Being polish and my grandpas name being Roman, I was sure Roman Polak was a countryman... Then I found out he was a brother instead lol

I bet his ancestors were countrymen at least!

 

[Rorschach]

I'm guessing this naming tradition is from many hundreds, maybe even over a thousand years ago. America is too new for such a tradition.

Also, the US works differently from other countries. You go into Sweden, you see a bunch of Swedes, both nationality and ethnicity-wise. Thus of you're the one Czech guy in Sweden at that time, maybe you're Peter the Czech or whatever. In the US, it's deliberately a melting pot and often times people of one ethnicity have migrated to the US en masse, such as the Italians or the Irish or whatever.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

I’ve seen

French
German
Turk
Scott
England
Brazil
Holland

 

[Ceremony]

I’ve seen

Turk

 

[Chainshot]

Still remembering the WC of Suomi and Ruotsalainen on the same line in a game between Finland and Sweden. I suppose it would be like Pavel Francouz playing against France - someone a few too many into the evening is going to get a chuckle out of it. I know I did.

 

[AvroArrow]

I thought this was pretty common in Asia/Europe ? Lots of Punjabi last names are the village or city a person is from. Obviously not the same as a country, but a last named based on where you're from.

 

[Soul Assumption]

nationality as a surname exists in every language I think

 

[ManofSteel55]

Yeah baby, its Summer.

What i noticed is this little curiosity. Only in Czech or Slovakia you have players, that have nationality as a surname. For Example:

Simon Nemec aka Simon German
Pavel Francouz aka Pavel French
Tomas Slovak
Petr Cech aka Petr Czech

Why dont we have John Canada? Or Mike American?

Is this common in Sweden, Finland?

Oh, we have Canada as a last name alright. I give you, CFL Legend Tom Canada - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Canada

America is different. It is based off of the name of the continent, and I don't think I have heard any continents as a last name. I mean, we have heard of Steve French, but not Steve Europe.

The real answer is that most surnames come from outside of the Americas originally. Most people immigrated here, and naming conventions for people indigenous to the Americas wouldn't have the colonial names for locations as part of the naming conventions,

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

 

[Holden Caulfield]

View attachment 896577

Bombers also had a safety named Tom Europe
Tom Europe - Wikipedia

Theres also a character actor that has worked on alot of shows in the 90's and 00's by the name of Ron Canada

Ron Canada - Wikipedia

Fun fact is both defensive end Tom Canada (above) and the actor Ron Canada are American.

 

[Super Hans]

Does Puma Swede count?

Better stick handler than Datsyuk.

 

[ICanMotteBelieveIt]

Yeah baby, its Summer.

What i noticed is this little curiosity. Only in Czech or Slovakia you have players, that have nationality as a surname. For Example:

Simon Nemec aka Simon German
Pavel Francouz aka Pavel French
Tomas Slovak
Petr Cech aka Petr Czech

Why dont we have John Canada? Or Mike American?

Is this common in Sweden, Finland?

A little bit off topic but google subban and what it means in Swedish .

It's not common in Swedish (regarding your question).

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Bombers also had a safety named Tom Europe
Tom Europe - Wikipedia

Theres also a character actor that has worked on alot of shows in the 90's and 00's by the name of Ron Canada

Ron Canada - Wikipedia

Fun fact is both defensive end Tom Canada (above) and the actor Ron Canada are American.

Same with (bad) NFL coach Matt Canada.

 

[ponder719]

(Derek) Engelland is a German surname meaning England.

 

[tarheelhockey]

In the US, state names are certainly more popular.

Montana, Washington, Virginia, Nevada, Robert California from the office, Kansas, Carolina, and I imagine there's a girl named Florida because why wouldn't there be.

We’re talking surnames, not first names.

The one name on your list which is common as a surname is Washington. Washington is a small town in England, and therefore follows the same logic as surnames like England and Holland.

The other one you see occasionally is Montana, but that’s not because people are named after the state. It comes from other language backgrounds where this same logic applied to people from somewhere in the mountains.

 

[gary69]

A little bit off topic but google subban and what it means in Swedish .

It's not common in Swedish (regarding your question).

USA women's football team has also an unfortunate name in Swedish: Lindsey Horan, who played against Sweden at the Tokyo Olympic games.