Was Gretzky Polish, Ukrainian or Belarusian?

[su24]

Gretzky is a Belarusian hockey player. He's played in the KHL for Dinamo-Minsk last season. The last name is common for the Western Belarus this days. I doubt you gonna find a lot of Gretskys in Poland or Ukraine now.
BTW if you talk about Wayne Gretzky. He visited Belarus and met his relatives a few years ago.

 

[OvieGreat8]

He looks Polish.

 

[User9992]

He looks Polish.

Yes. Especially his nose. Look at Lewandowski.

 

[General Disarray]

Depends what team he cheers for st the Euro Cup

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

He probably is an American now, or at least a dual American/Canadian citizen. Like all the best Canadians, he moved to LA and married an American actress. (Alan Thicke and Ryan Reynolds are examples of other Canadians who followed this path.)

Considering Alan Thicke your best Reminds me of that movie Idiotcracy

 

[Confused Turnip]

My understanding is that he's mostly Polish, with a helping of some Russian/Ukrainian. His last name even when seen in other slavic languages is usually a Polish import and his mother's side he has mentioned is largely Polish, the city in Belarus his father's family is from is historically Polish-Jewish and remains primarily populated by Poles even today.

 

[Confused Turnip]

Belarus has never been a part of Poland.

I guess this is technically true since Belarus first came into existence after the Russian revolution. The land where Belarus sits, however, is another matter.

On the map you can see the name "Poland-Lithuania". They couldn't even spell the name of the country? That was Rzeczpospolita, which is CONFEDERATION of independent states.

Every part of this is wrong. Usage of the name you're mistranslating happened years later as part of the enlightenment, that map is from 1600. At the time of this map it was the Kingdom of Poland. It was ruled from Poland by a Polish king and spoke Polish. Spin it how you want.

Modern Belarus was called Litva back then.

Incorrect, Litva referred to the semi-autonomous Duchy of Lithuania, and remains the modern Polish word for Lithuania.

That's terrible how uneducated North Americans trying to talk about our history.

big ooofers on this line now, huh?

 

[PetrCech]

1) He's Canadian
2) His grandfather was from Grodno - a Polish city occupied by Russia, now in Belarus
3) His grandmother was from Pidhaitsi - a Polish city occupied by Russia, now in Ukraine
4) Grecki literally means Greek in Polish
Everyone gets a piece.

 

[MMANumminen]

By far the best russian player of all time

 

[member 305909]

Gretzky sounds like a very made up name in order to sound catchy. Like a stage-name as Brazilian footballers all have.

 

[RussianHockeyFan20]

Start watching at the 38:00...

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Polish.

 

[Tanknation]

Polish blood runs through him.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Gretzky sounds like a very made up name in order to sound catchy. Like a stage-name as Brazilian footballers all have.

I like how this was the last post for a year and a half, with no response.

 

[Jumptheshark]

for me this going down a political topic that we want to avoid

 

[Reality Czech]

for me this going down a political topic that we want to avoid

Absolutely, kind of an offensive thread. He's a Canadian who has ancestors from various European countries. Discussing another person's identity like this is pretty cringe if you ask me.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Borders have changed so much there and for some families it has been quite fluid. The Gretzky name sounds more russian/belarusian than polish to me. But the same name should exist in Poland too, maybe spelled differently.

Yeah, I had two different ancestors (moms grandma and dads great-grandma) both come from Kiev and one of them identified as Ukrainian, the other Russian.

Absolutely, kind of an offensive thread. He's a Canadian who has ancestors from various European countries. Discussing another person's identity like this is pretty cringe if you ask me.

Meh, who cares. It's a little nationalistic, maybe, but I think people are just interested in their idols. Doesn't need to go beyond that and, if it does, well... someone being proud of successful people who share their heritage is pretty harmless.

 

[Reality Czech]

Yeah, I had two different ancestors (moms grandma and dads great-grandma) both come from Kiev and one of them identified as Ukrainian, the other Russian.


Meh, who cares. It's a little nationalistic, maybe, but I think people are just interested in their idols. Doesn't need to go beyond that and, if it does, well... someone being proud of successful people who share their heritage is pretty harmless.

He's Canadian with mixed heritage. The way the thread title is phrased is probably more the issue. Wiki says his family emigrated to Canada prior to 1917, so I bet if you asked him he'd say he's Canadian.

From Walter Gretzky's wiki: Gretzky's ancestry is typically described as either Belarusian, Ukrainian, or Polish.[6] In interviews, Gretzky stated that his parents were "white Russians from Belarus",[7] and whenever anyone asked his father if they were Russian, he would reply, "Nyet. Belarus."[3][8] On other occasions he mentioned his family's Polish ancestry.[9] In his autobiography, however, Gretzky stated that his first language was Ukrainian[3] which would logically have come from his mother's influence and which is not inconsistent with being of Belarusian or Polish heritage on his father's side.

Of course, you'd have to consider his ancestry on his mother's side as well if you wanna slap a label on him.

 

[sufferer]

He's Russian.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Was? Is he gone?

 

[Snuggs]

From someone who lives in the United States, pretty sure he's none of the three and is just a full blown Canadian.

 

[Machinehead]

They were land barons who support the Czar?

Hate to see it,.

 

[SaltNPeca]

Start watching at the 38:00...

amazing thread resurrection!

I'd like to point out the fuzzy concept of the Polesia region where many Canadian immigrant families originated. Already some excellent posts ITT about the complicated political history of the region.

Many immigrants from this region >100 years ago weren't highly educated, especially not by today's standards.
Speaking 1 or more functional & basic Slavic dialect in the old world and new communities was pretty common afaik (also in my family history is "Polish/Ukrainian/Galician mix").

Just for example my father knows some Polish from speaking with his maternal grandfather as a small child, but cannot read or communicate in Polish. He was raised with Ukrainian language at home, can read decently, and was able to communicate basics in modern Ukraine.​

Gretzky was Canadian, now a dual American/Canadian, but his family history is what it is. He is clearly proud and open about this, so I see no issue discussing here.

 

[Metroid]

 

[Sasha Orlov]

He's Russian.

Based