Ukrainian Americans

Ukrainian Americans

Українські американці
Total population
976,314[1] 0.35% of US population (2009)
Regions with significant populations
New York City Metropolitan Area,[2] Rust Belt (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois), Midwest (Minnesota, North Dakota), Greater Los Angeles Area, Alaska, Washington state, Maryland, Florida, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia[3]
Languages
American English, Ukrainian, Russian
Religion
Predominantly Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Greek Catholic, with Protestant and Jewish minorities
Related ethnic groups
Ukrainians, Ukrainian Canadians, Ukrainian Australians, British Ukrainians, Rusyn Americans, Belarusian Americans, Russian Americans, other Slavic peoples especially East Slavs

A Ukrainian American is a citizen of the United States with ancestors from Ukraine. There have been Ukrainian people living in North America since the early 1600s.^[4] There are about one million Ukrainian Americans^[5] and many live in the North East and the West of the United States, in states like New York, Pennsylvania, California, New Jersey, Illinois and Washington.^[6]

Numbers

The number of Ukrainians in the United States is 354,832.^[7] There are 408,504 people who identify as Ukrainian.^[8] Many of them were born in the United States. Only about 20% are actual immigrants. About a third of people of Ukrainian origin speak Ukrainian. Almost 143 thousand (15%) use it in everyday life.

Ukrainian Americans

States with the largest number of people using the Ukrainian language in the family (2006—2008):^[9]

• New York — 22,462
• California — 17,350
• Washington, DC — 17,175
• Illinois — 12,043
• Pennsylvania — 10,188
• New Jersey — 10,078
• Ohio — 9,112
• Oregon — 5,261
• Florida — 5 141
• Michigan — 4,523
• Connecticut — 3,190
• Massachusetts — 2,963
• Georgia — 2,464
• North Carolina — 1 996
• Wisconsin — 1,771
• Maryland — 1,683
• Minnesota — 1,674
• South Carolina — 1,126
• Texas — 1,157
• Virginia — 1,056
• Colorado — 1,046
• Tennessee — 1,046

Famous Ukrainian Americans

• Igor Sikorsky (d. 1972), designer of helicopters and airplanes
• Joe Schuster (d. 1992), one of the authors of comics about Superman^[10][11]
• Anna Politkovskaya (d. 2006), journalist, writer.^[12][13][14]
• Nicholas Oresko (d. 2013), war hero^[15]
• Richard Levins (d. 2016), scientist (ecologist)
• Steve Ditko (d. 2018) comic book writer^[16]
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg (d. 2020) – United States Supreme Court Justice
• Jackie Stallone (d. 2020), astrologer^[17][18]
• Sergiy Vilkomir (d. 2020), computer scientist
• Igor Vovkovinskiy (d. 2021), once the tallest living American
• Dustin Hoffman (b. 1937), actor^{[19][20][21][22][23]}
• Bob Dylan (b. 1941) singer-songwriter, poet^[24]
• Barbra Streisand (b. 1942), singer
• George Dzundza (b. 1945), actor^[25]
• Semion Mogilevich (b. 1946) – alleged criminal
• Steven Spielberg (b. 1946) movie director, producer, screenwriter
• Sylvester Stallone (b. 1946) actor, director, screenwriter, producer
• Steven Tyler (b. 1948), singer in Aerosmith, songwriter^[26]
• David Copperfield (b. 1956), illusionist/magician^[27][28]
• Michael Bolton (b. 1953), singer and songwriter^[29]
• N.Gregory Mankiw (b. 1958), economist
• David Duchovny (b. 1960), movie actor
• Wayne Gretzky (b. 1961), US-Canadian ice hockey player
• Chuck Palahniuk (b. 1962), novelist, journalist
• Michael Smerconish (b. 1962), CNN host
• Ulana Suprun (b. 1963), former acting Ukrainian Minister of Healthcare
• Lenny Kravitz (b. 1964), singer, instrumentalist^[30]
• Milla Jovovich (b. 1975), movie actress
• Jan Koum (1976), founder of WhatsApp
• Vladimir Kozlov (b. 1979), wrestler
• Olga Kurylenko (b. 1979), French film actress
• Natalie Wood (d. 1981) – actress
• Mila Kunis (b. 1983), movie actress
• Kendra Wilkinson (b. 1985), TV personality
• Chris Zylka (b. 1985), actor
• Traci Lords – actress born Nora Kuzma; her father was of Ukrainian ancestry^[31]
• Vera Farmiga – actress^[32]
• Taissa Farmiga – actress
• Erika Eleniak – actress, father is of Ukrainian descent^[33]
• Matt Czuchry – actor^[34]
• Walter Matthau – actor
• Leonard Nimoy – actor
• Jack Palance – actor^[35]
• Leonard Bernstein – composer and conductor who was one of Hollywoods 10 blacklisted, of Jewish descent
• Jackie Evancho – classical crossover singer
• Bill Evans – jazz musician and composer
• G-Eazy – songwriter-rapper
• Stan Getz - jazz saxophonist and band leader, popularizer of cool and bossa nova sub-genres
• Vladimir Horowitz, pianist
• Melanie Safka – folk singer, performed at Woodstock
• Nicole Scherzinger – singer, songwriter and television music competition judge; of Ukrainian descent on her mother's side
• Eliot Engel - New York Congressman
• Gary Johnson – former Governor of New Mexico^[36]
• Chuck Schumer - senior US senator from New York
• Victoria Spartz – Indiana State Senator^[37]
• Paul Wellstone – former US Senator from Minnesota
• Theodosius Dobzhansky – geneticist and evolutionary biologist
• Milton Friedman – economist
• George Gamow – astrophysicist; first suggested hydrogen fusion as source of solar energy^[38]
• Simon Ramo – physicist; Russian–Ukrainian
• Albert Bandura, Canadian-American psychologist

Related pages

• List of people with Ukrainian ancestry

References

1. "Census 2006 ACS Ancestry estimates". Factfinder.census.gov. Archived from the original on 2009-03-07. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
2. "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2010 Supplemental Table 2". U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
3. "Ukrainian American Demographics". Archived from the original on 2020-07-11. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
4. The Ukrainians in America: 1608-1975. (1976). Compiled and Edited by Vladimir Wertsman. New York: Oceana Publications.
5. factfinder.census.gov US Census 2000
6. Profile of Selected Demographic and Social Characteristics: 2000. U.S. Census Bureau
7. "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
8. "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
9. "American Community Survey".
10. Mietkiewicz, Henry (April 26, 1992). "Great Krypton! Superman was the Star's Ace Reporter (Joe Shuster's final interview)". Toronto Star via JoeShusterAwards.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2010. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
11. Ricca, Brad. Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster--the Creators of Superman. Macmillan.
12. Halyna Mazepa: My fondest Ukrainian memories are of Katerynoslav, day.kyiv.ua
13. Biography Archived 5 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, annapolitkovskayafund.com
14. Anna Politkovskaya, notablebiographies.com
15. "Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (in Ukrainian)". Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
16. Ukrainian-American Steve Ditko is acknowledged as one of the all-time great illustrators of comic books Archived June 10, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
17. "Sylvester Stallone's mother visited Odessa". Official Site of Odessa. Archived from the original on 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
18. "Mother of movie star Sylvester Stallone seeks grannie in Ukraine". ArtUkraine.com. Archived from the original on 2014-08-09. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
19. Gross, Terry (January 16, 2013). 'Quartet': Dustin Hoffman, Behind The Camera (Radio broadcast). National Public Radio (NPR). Archived from the original on February 15, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
20. "Dustin Hoffman says it's a great era for television, the worst ever for film". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. July 8, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
21. Schleier, Curt (January 3, 2013). "Hollywood Legend Talks Films and Faith". Forward.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
22. Pogrebin, Abigail (October 2005). Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish. Broadway Books. ISBN 0-7679-1612-3.
23. Finding Your Roots, March 8, 2016, PBS
24. Sounes, pp. 12–13.
25. DATELINE NEW YORK: New Yorkers bring culture to Catskills (09/13/98) Archived January 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
26. "Steven Tyler promises to shake up Moscow during Aerosmith concert". rbth.com. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
27. Ike Hughes (2006). "David Copperfield has made a career out of dazzling people". Lansing State Journal. Retrieved on September 22, 2008. "His dad, who managed a men's clothing store, was the son of Russian immigrants. His mom was born in Jerusalem; both wanted him to go to college and into a profession."
28. David Copperfield Bio (Biography) Archived June 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. / Celebrity Gossip (September 16, 1956). Retrieved on February 15, 2012.
29. "Grandfather was a plumber from Ukraine".
30. Mitchell Peters (August 12, 2011). "Lenny Kravitz Returns With 'Black and White America,' Countless Partnerships". Billboard.
31. Lords, Traci (2004-06-29). Traci Lords: Underneath It All – Traci Lords, Traci Elizabeth Lords – Google Books. ISBN 9780060508210. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
32. Born and raised in New Jersey's insulated Ukrainian community, where she went to Ukrainian Catholic school, was in the Ukrainian Girl Scouts, and did Ukrainian folk dancing in the Catskills during summers Farmiga did not learn English until she was six Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
33. "Official website : Erika Eleniak". Erikeleniaksoofficialsite.com. Archived from the original on 2013-04-20. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
34. Yuan, Jada (February 8, 2011). "The Good Wife's Matt Czuchry on Cary's Sex Life and How to Pronounce His Last Name". nymag.com. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
35. "Jack Palance has everyone smiling as he recites stories about growing up Ukrainian in a tough neighborhood". Brama.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
36. "BOSHTOW, Gary Johnson's grandparents born in Ukraine". Archived from the original on 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
37. "Ukraine native to serve as newest state senator". Archived from the original on 2019-09-13. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
38. "RAAD.org". Archived from the original on January 10, 2008. Retrieved February 18, 2016.