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Old 08-20-2009, 01:27 AM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
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I think of Ed, Bruce, Doug, Rick, Valerie, Brenda, etc. as "sounding Canadian".
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Old 08-20-2009, 11:18 AM
 
Location: Canada
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I think of Rheal, Erwin, Ivan, Fuad, Olga, Maria, and Crystal as sounding Canadian.
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Old 08-20-2009, 11:46 AM
 
Location: Vancouver, BC
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Meh... don't think there's such a thing as a "Canadian" name - the names are all over the board.
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Old 08-20-2009, 12:46 PM
 
Location: Toronto
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Bill, Fred, Mike, Greg, Peter!
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Old 08-20-2009, 01:24 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by netwit View Post
I think of Rheal, Erwin, Ivan, Fuad, Olga, Maria, and Crystal as sounding Canadian.
There is a retired MLB player named Rheal Cormier, of French-Candian descent.

Other surnames that can be Canadian: DeBarge(their father was French-Canadian), McKay
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Old 08-20-2009, 01:38 PM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
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To me a typical name for a given country would be one that is not found in countries where a similar language is spoken.

To me typical Canadian names for anglos would be Lorne and Gordon. These are found in other anglo countries but nowhere near as common as they are in Canada.

Typical franco Canadian names to me would be Jean-Guy and Rhéal. As with the anglo names I mentioned, these would be quite rate in French-speaking countries like France, etc.
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Old 08-20-2009, 02:55 PM
 
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Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
To me a typical name for a given country would be one that is not found in countries where a similar language is spoken.

To me typical Canadian names for anglos would be Lorne and Gordon. These are found in other anglo countries but nowhere near as common as they are in Canada.

Typical franco Canadian names to me would be Jean-Guy and Rhéal. As with the anglo names I mentioned, these would be quite rate in French-speaking countries like France, etc.
There are 2 surnames that I have only heard in Canada, but know where else: Michalchuk and Hrycuik.
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Old 08-20-2009, 03:09 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, BC
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Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte View Post
There are 2 surnames that I have only heard in Canada, but know where else: Michalchuk and Hrycuik.
They sound Ukrainian, as do most names that end in "chuk" and "uik". There were a lot of Ukrainian immigrants to Canada in the early 1900's.

Last edited by Robynator; 08-20-2009 at 03:19 PM..
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Old 08-20-2009, 03:16 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, BC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
To me a typical name for a given country would be one that is not found in countries where a similar language is spoken.

To me typical Canadian names for anglos would be Lorne and Gordon. These are found in other anglo countries but nowhere near as common as they are in Canada.

Typical franco Canadian names to me would be Jean-Guy and Rhéal. As with the anglo names I mentioned, these would be quite rate in French-speaking countries like France, etc.
Just blabbing here, but I don't think I've ever met a guy named Lorne in my life. Gordon? Do you think Gordon's still representative of the typical Canadian male name? Perhaps it was in 1970, but now? Aren't there more little boys being named "Jayden" and "Liam" and "Aiden" these days? I'd say Gordon's out of fashion - guys named Gordon are 40+. When was the last time you met a young guy named Gordon in Canada? I know more Mikes, Steves, James, and Jasons than Gordons. And more guys named Josh, Kyle, Luke, Greg, Brandon, Tyler, Ryan, Sean, Ian, Brian, and Patrick than Gordon. Gordon? I think it's a myth Canadians like to emphasize, but the reality is that there are so many more common names... they're just not "Canadian" - they're regular popular western names.

But Jean-Guy and Rhéal? Seriously? I don't think I've ever seen the name Rhéal until I read it right now!

I don't know if I'd single out Jean-Guy, but Jean-anything is seriously québecois. A hyphenated French name is much more prevalent in Québec than any other French-speaking country.

Jean-Marc, Jean-Pierre, Jean-Claude, Jean-Paul, etc for guys.
Marie-Claude, Marie-Claire, Marie-Josée, and whatever, for girls.

I'd actually say Matthieu, Luc, and Marc are more typical québecois names... names you'll run into again and again in Québec.

Personally? I don't really think there are any first names that are truly Canadian. But there are certainly last names - surnames - which are found more commonly in Canada than anywhere else. Again, I can think of Québecois examples like Tremblay, Gaulin, Lavallee, Lavigne, etc.
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Old 08-20-2009, 03:24 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, BC
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My whole comment about Gordon has got me thinking, but names go around in waves... there are trendy names that were popular in certain decades which, due to overpopularity, fade away... and then eventually come back into popularity. Like the name "Jennifer". How many hundreds of Jennifers have you met in Canada? And some time in the last 10 years it became uber trendy and sophisticated to name your baby girl something old fashioned and English sounding, like Emma, or Victoria. Those hundreds of Jennifers will be replaced by the hundreds of Emmas and Victorias, until a new name trend shifts. Gordon may have been a name trend in Canada back in the 60's and 70's (or maybe I'm just thinking of Gordon Lightfoot or the Barenaked Ladie's album, Gordon).

I'm still trying to think of names that are in abundance in Canada but aren't elsewhere, and I can't think of any.
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