Hoke
An Anglicized spelling of a variant form of the given name Hosea.
Name Census estimates that about 173 living Americans carry the first name Hoke. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hoke today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hoke births was 1910 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hoke. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Hoke is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hokes were born before 1968.
People living today
173
~ 1 in 1,981,239 Americans
Peak year
1910
19 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
2021 SSA rank
#11,255
Tracked since 1900
Popularity
Hoke: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hoke from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 132 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hoke by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Hoke during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hokes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hoke
The name Hoke has its origins in the Old English language, dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain. It is derived from the Old English word "hoc," which means "hook" or "angle." The name was likely used to describe someone who lived near a hooked or angled piece of land or a bend in a river.
In its earliest recorded use, the name appeared as "Hoca" in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of land and property ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. This suggests that the name was already in use among the Anglo-Saxons before the Norman Conquest of 1066.
While the name Hoke does not have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it does have a long history of use in various parts of England. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name was Hoke de Waddington, who was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire in 1166.
In the 13th century, a prominent figure named Hoke de Hertford was a member of the gentry class in Hertfordshire, England. He was recorded as owning land and property in the area during that time.
During the medieval period, the name Hoke appeared in various forms, such as Hooke, Huke, and Hucke, reflecting the variations in spelling and pronunciation that were common in those times.
One notable individual with the name Hoke was Sir Robert Hoke, a 15th-century English knight who served under King Henry VI during the Wars of the Roses. He fought in several battles, including the Battle of Towton in 1461.
Another significant figure with the name Hoke was William Hoke, an English playwright and poet who lived in the late 16th century. He is best known for his work "The Conqueror's Triumph," a play that celebrated the victory of the English over the Spanish Armada in 1588.
In the 17th century, Hoke Barrington was a prominent merchant and landowner in Gloucestershire, England. He was involved in the wool trade and owned several properties in the area.
During the 18th century, Hoke Whitworth was a renowned English mathematician and inventor. He made significant contributions to the field of engineering and is credited with developing the Whitworth thread, a standardized screw thread that revolutionized the manufacturing industry.
People
Hoke + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hoke as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hoke: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hoke?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 173 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hoke going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,981,239 US residents.
Is Hoke a common name?
We classify Hoke as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 622 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hoke most popular?
The single biggest year for Hoke was 1910, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hoke is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Hoke a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hoke in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.