Players with the shortest and the longest last name in NHL history

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Longest: Lavallee-Smotherman (18 letters)

I originally thought this would be Letourneau-Leblond at 17 letters, but Lavallee-Smotherman reigns supreme here. Both men played with shortened last names on their jerseys though, opting for just the post-hyphenation part.

Forsbacka Karlsson with 17 letters, and none of those pesky hyphens, is the longest to appear in all its glory on the back of a jersey.

All three men also show that long last names do not correlate with long careers as Lavallee-Smotherman had just a cup of coffee in the NHL while the skilled pugilist Letourneau-Leblond and the much shorter initialed "JFK" can best be described as journeymen.

Shortest: Aho, Frk, Ing, Kea, May, Ray, Roy, Roy (3 letters)

There may be some other three-lettered surnames throughout NHL history, but none shorter that I could find. Cliff Pu was drafted by the Sabres but never actually played in the NHL.

Also it may look like I have the same name in there twice, but Roy and Roy are clearly very different names.
 
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Most of the shortest firstname surname combos are actually shortened names or nicknames. Like Ed Kea (Adriaan Kea), Rob Ray (Robert Ray), Tie Domi (Tahir Domi), Max Domi (Maxwell Domi), Aki Berg (Aki-Petteri Berg), Brad May (Bradley May).

Shortest actual combos that I can remember are Rau brothers Kyle and Chad. Not sure if those are the shortest though.
 
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If seven letters is the shortes Alan May would belong too.

Yugoslavian (Slovenian) Ivo Jan participated in Red Wings camp in 68. Never played in NHL.
 
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Ek (meaning Oak) is a fairly common last name in Swedish, as in Joel Eriksson-Ek. If he had only gone by his mother's name he would have been Joel Ek, which is six combined letters. His dad Clas Eriksson was a pretty good player (winger) at the domestic level in Sweden in the late 90s.

Shortest male name in Sweden would probably be Bo, but that name isn't that common anymore among the younger generations, but Bo Ek, there are people with these combined names in Sweden, though not anyone involved in pro sports I think.
 
Forsbacka Karlsson is the longest name I've seen presented. Létourneau-Leblond only used the full form in other leagues I think.

Yeah, but Forsbacka and Karlsson are two names not one, and Létourneau-Leblond are also two names. If I combined my last name with my mother's maiden name I would also have 17 letters. It's not that great of an accomplishment. :eyeroll:


Edit: actually 18
 
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