Canadian Basketball Player Can Use ‘F-Word’ Last Name

For one college basketball player in Alberta, the f-word is not a profanity — it's his last name.

But for the past two years, Guilherme Carbagiale F**k has been asked by his coaches to drop his last name and go by "Guy Carbagiale" on the roster.

"I played in a very small city," said Guilherme. "To avoid community conflict, they asked me to go by my first and middle name."

The Brazilian-born forward says his surname is actually pronounced "Foo-key" and only became an issue when he moved to the United States to play basketball.

F**k says his name is of German origin and means "fox" — but he agreed not to be identified by it because he was new to the country and knew it had a different meaning in English.

By the time he moved to Canada in August 2014 and started playing with the Medicine Hat Rattlers, he had enough.

"It's my last name, I'm proud of it. It doesn't matter if it means something bad," he said.

However, F**k was only allowed to use his real name after his team made it to the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball championships in March. The team finished seventh overall.

Before that, staff from Medicine Hat College asked the city's local newspaper to only use his first and middle name in news stories about the team.

When asked if he's ever thought about changing his last name, the answer is no.

"No, no, no. I want to have kids, I want to spread the last name," he said.