# How Much Chuk Can a Canadian Chuck? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2001, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-chuk-can-a-canadian-chuck/67520 "2001-06-04T14:26:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![no1\_squoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@no1\_squoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/no1_squoog)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-chuk-can-a-canadian-chuck/67520/1 "2001-06-04T14:26:27Z")
I am a HUGE fan of the sport of hockey, and in watching about a bajillion games, I’ve noticed a trend in some of the players’ names…an awful LOT of them have the suffix “chuk” in their last name. Here are but a few examples: Simchuk, Tkachuk, Sawchuk, Melnechuk, Gylywoychuk, Kravchuk…you get the idea. Now, I’m not so silly as to suppose that ONLY hockey players have this ending to their surnames,it’s just that there’s such a high ocurrence of these kinds of names in the sport. My question is this: what is the meaning of the suffix, and where did it come from? Is it a “son of” kind of thing, like John"son" or "Mc"Dougall? I’m assuming that the players I’m refering to are Canadian, although certainly there are several nationalities in the sport. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-chuk-can-a-canadian-chuck/67520/2 "2001-06-04T14:33:43Z")
It’s not “chuk”. It’s more likely to be something like “czek”, “chek” or “czyk”, all of which are Eastern European in origin. The suffix **-czyk** is Polish for “son of” ([http://www.pgsa.org/nazw7.htm](http://www.pgsa.org/nazw7.htm)). ---
**Author:** ![no1\_squoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@no1\_squoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/no1_squoog)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-chuk-can-a-canadian-chuck/67520/3 "2001-06-04T14:45:13Z")
That might be it…I wonder if the “chuk” suffix is perhaps a New World-ization of the Polish suffix? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mattk \* > \*\*It’s not “chuk”. It’s more likely to be something like “czek”, “chek” or “czyk”, all of which are Eastern European in origin. The suffix **-czyk** is Polish for “son of” ([http://www.pgsa.org/nazw7.htm](http://www.pgsa.org/nazw7.htm)). \*\* As far as the names I listed, those are indeed the spellings of the names, and there are many more that have the “chuk” suffix. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-chuk-can-a-canadian-chuck/67520/4 "2001-06-04T14:47:10Z")
That may well be the case. Any other takers? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-chuk-can-a-canadian-chuck/67520/5 "2001-06-05T01:57:12Z")
Beg to differ, **mattk** , but names ending in “-chuk” are very common in Canada, espcially the prairies and Ontario. It usually means that the person is of Ukrainian descent. There are a lot of Ukrainian-Canadians. The Canadian government in the early part of the 20th century encouraged their forebears to come to Canada because of their skill in dry-land farming (the climate and soil in Ukraine is very similar to that of the prairie provinces). As for their representation in professional hockey, well, the prairies have always been a training ground for good Canadian hockey players. (There may also be players in the NHL direct from Ukraine - I’m not aware of any offhand, but there are lots of Russians and Czechs, so there may also be players from Ukraine.) Now, I’m guessing that “-chuk” may be a Ukrainian cognate of the Polish -czyk, and I assume that it’s been transcribed from the Cryllic. But it is consistently spelt “-chuk.” ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-chuk-can-a-canadian-chuck/67520/6 "2001-06-05T04:30:42Z")
Incidentally, the first president of Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union was Leonid Kravchuk. Not Canadian. Back to Canada, a number of waves of immigration occurred after World War 1, but those who were present during the war faced internment, as [this](http://209.82.14.226/history/internment/) site notes. > [@](#): > > With the outbreak of World War I, the War Measures Act (1914) was implemented as a result of an Order In Council by the Canadian Government. This resulted in the internment of 8,579 “enemy aliens” of which over 5,000 were Ukrainians who had emigrated to Canada from territories under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It also meant an additional 80,000 individuals (of which the vast majority were Ukrainians) were obliged to register as “enemy aliens” and then required to report to local authorities on a regular basis. There has been talk of reparations for those interned and their descendants, but I believe thus far nothing has come of it. This is a source of embarassment among Canadian moralists, who on the basis of their nation’s better behavior over the years can be a bit self-righteous in their disdain for American policy. ---
**Author:** ![MrDeath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/22d042/32.png) [@MrDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDeath)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-chuk-can-a-canadian-chuck/67520/7 "2001-06-05T10:55:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Northern Piper \* > \*\*Now, I’m guessing that “-chuk” may be a Ukrainian cognate of the Polish -czyk, and I assume that it’s been transcribed from the Cryllic. But it is consistently spelt “-chuk.” \*\* Correct. (BTW, I went to high school with Curtis Leschyshyn, a #2 draft pick in '87 or '88; my brush with fame!) Having married a Uke, I should know. In the mother tongue, the suffix is roughly pronounced “chook”, but everyone in Saskatoon says “chuck”. Also cognate with the Czech ‘cek’ (with a funky inverted circumflex on the c). Many people in these parts lovingly call the home of the Oilers hockey team “Edmonchuk”. **dqa** : I’m not proud of how the Canadian government has treated various minorities through the years. But I’d be no prouder for being American; some pretty crappy stuff went down on both sides of the border. And that’s all I’m going to say about that; further posts on _that_ subject belong in GD. (And Leonid Kravchuk isn’t Canadian? Well, there goes _that_ idea for [world domination](http://www.standonguard.com/)…) ---
**Author:** ![no1\_squoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@no1\_squoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/no1_squoog)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-chuk-can-a-canadian-chuck/67520/8 "2001-06-05T13:54:36Z")
Thanks for the explanation, folks. Now I can enjoy my hockey without having that nagging question in the back of my mind! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-chuk-can-a-canadian-chuck/67520/9 "2001-06-05T19:44:03Z")
In the 1960’s, the Boston Bruins had Johnny Bucyk, Vic Stasiuk, and “Bronco” Horvath, prairiemen all, together on the “Uke Line”. Probably not a PC name anymore, though.