Find out how popular the last name Hock is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Hock.

Hock, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Hock surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hock in America

Hock is the 7061st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hock surname appeared 4,739 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Hock.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hock to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Hock

The surname HOCK is of German origin, dating back to the 16th century. It is believed to have originated from the Old German word "hocke," which referred to a small hill or mound, suggesting that the name was initially given to someone who lived near or on a small hill.

The earliest recorded instances of the HOCK surname can be found in various German historical records, including church registers and tax records from the 16th and 17th centuries. One notable example is the record of a Johann HOCK, born in 1587 in the town of Worms, in the present-day state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

In the 17th century, the name appeared in the records of the German state of Bavaria, with a certain Georg HOCK being mentioned in a land deed from 1642 in the town of Ingolstadt.

As the name spread throughout Germany and other parts of Europe, it underwent various spelling variations, such as Hocke, Hocken, and Hocken. These variations were often influenced by regional dialects and scribal errors in record-keeping.

One of the earliest known bearers of the HOCK surname in the English-speaking world was Johann Wilhelm HOCK, a German-born merchant who settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the mid-18th century. He played a role in the American Revolutionary War, supplying provisions to the Continental Army.

Another notable figure with the HOCK surname was Theodor HOCK (1834-1904), a German-born physician and botanist who made significant contributions to the study of plant pathology and established the first phytopathological research institute in Germany.

Other historical figures bearing the HOCK surname include:

1. Heinrich HOCK (1816-1895), a German architect known for his design of the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.
2. Friedrich HOCK (1859-1936), a German composer and music educator who worked extensively in the United States.
3. Gerhard HOCK (1892-1978), a German-American physicist and inventor, known for his contributions to radar technology during World War II.
4. Joachim HOCK (1920-2004), a German naval officer and submarine commander during World War II, who later became an author and historian.
5. Hans HOCK (1921-2005), a German-American linguist and scholar of Sanskrit and Indo-European languages, who taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

These examples illustrate the long and diverse history of the HOCK surname, which has been borne by individuals from various walks of life across different parts of the world.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hock

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Hock.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Hock was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Hock has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Hock was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Hock, please contact us.

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