Canada is home to the third-largest Ukrainian population globally, following Ukraine and Russia. Just over 110,000 Ukrainian Canadians identified Ukrainian as their mother tongue, with more than half residing in the Prairie Provinces.
Ukrainian immigration to Canada began in the late 19th century, initially driven by government efforts to attract agricultural settlers. During World War I, many Ukrainian Canadians -- originating from territories within the Austro-Hungarian Empire -- were interned as “enemy aliens.” As of the 2021 Census, there are 1,258,635 individuals of Ukrainian descent in Canada, comprising approximately 3.5% of the national population. The majority are Canadian-born and belong to the third generation or beyond.[1]
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, approximately 300,000 Ukrainians have immigrated to Canada through the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program. This program allows Ukrainians to obtain work and study permits, among other things. While over one million applications have been approved, the number of individuals who have actually immigrated is lower.[2]
Way of surnames adaptationWay of surnames adaptation
Upon arrival in Canada, many Ukrainian immigrants underwent anthroponymic (name-related) changes due to linguistic, cultural, and bureaucratic pressures. These changes were often influenced by immigration officers, school records, employment needs, or voluntary assimilation, resulting in various degrees of modification to personal names. Ukrainian surnames in Canada and the United States were altered through several identifiable mechanisms.[3]
TransliterationTransliteration
The most straightforward form of adaptation was transliteration from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet. This aimed to preserve phonetic accuracy while enabling legibility in English. For example:
- Ковальчук → Kovalchuk
- Шевченко → Shevchenko
- Іваненко → Ivanenko
This process sometimes produced multiple variants depending on the transliteration system used (Polish, Russian, or phonetic English).
Phonetic respellingPhonetic respelling
Phonetic respelling adjusted Ukrainian surnames to better align with English spelling conventions, often modifying vowel or consonant clusters:
- Tkaczuk → Tkaczyk or Tkachuk
- Shulha → Shulga
- Zelenevych → Zelenewich
These changes aimed to make names easier to pronounce or write for English speakers, especially in official documents.
Partial assimilation and hybrid formsPartial assimilation and hybrid forms
Many Ukrainian Canadians opted for hybrid names that retained a recognizable Slavic root while modifying the suffix or spelling for smoother integration:
- Kowalewski → Kowalsky
- Boychuk remained unchanged, but its pronunciation was often anglicized.
- Mazurkevych became Mazurkevic or Mazur
In some cases, diminutive or occupational suffixes such as -enko, -chuk, -sky were preserved, but spellings were adjusted.[4]
Translation of meaningTranslation of meaning
Most common Ukrainian Canadian surnames:Most common Ukrainian Canadian surnames:
Celebrities with Ukrainian Canadian surnames:Celebrities with Ukrainian Canadian surnames:
- Katheryn Winnick - Canadian actress, known for her starring roles in the television series Vikings (2013–2020), Wu Assassins (2019), and Big Sky (2020–2023), and her recurring role on the television series Bones (2010–2011)
- Daria Werbowy - Polish-born Canadian fashion model. She became a spokesmodel for the French beauty brand Lancôme in 2005. According to Forbes, Werbowy has appeared on over 50 international Vogue covers
- Paul Francis Wynnyk - former Canadian Army officer who served from 2016 to 2018 as Commander of the Canadian Army.
- Roberta Bondar - Canada's first female astronaut and the first neurologist in space.
- Nadiia Bashynska - Canadian ice dancer. With former partner, Peter Beaumont, she is a two-time World Junior bronze medalist (2022, 2023), 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, a four-time ISU Junior Grand Prix medallist, and the 2023 Canadian Junior champion
- Ramon John Hnatyshyn - Canadian lawyer and statesman who served as the 24th governor general of Canada from 1990 to 1995.
- Wayne Gretzky,- Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One", he has been called the greatest ice hockey player ever by the NHL
- George Alexander Trebek - Canadian and American game show host and television personality. He was best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show Jeopardy! for 37 seasons from its revival in 1984 until his death in 2020
See alsoSee also
Explore more on Ukrainian Canadian surnames:Explore more on Ukrainian Canadian surnames:
- New: Global Name Translation™ for DNA Matches at MyHeritage Blog
- Guest Post: They Came to Canada at MyHeritage Blog
- Search Canadian records at MyHeritage
- How to Find Your Heritage by Last Name In 5 Steps at MyHeritage Blog
References
- ↑ https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ukrainian-canadians
- ↑ https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/ukraine-measures/key-figures.html
- ↑ Fedorkiw, Walter. Canadianization of Ukrainian Personal Names. University of Manitoba, 1977.
- ↑ F.Bogdan. Dictionary of Ukrainian surnames in Canada (Winnipeg : Onomastic Commission of UVAN and Canadian Institute of Onomastic Sciences, 1974).