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

Hoctor, 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 Hoctor surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hoctor in America

Hoctor is the 47006th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hoctor surname appeared 452 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Hoctor.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hoctor 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 Hoctor

The surname Hoctor is believed to have originated in Ireland, likely in the northern counties of Ulster. It is thought to be an anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Ó hOchtair, which means "descendant of Ochtair." Ochtair was a personal name derived from the Gaelic word "ochtar," meaning "eight."

The earliest known record of the name Hoctor dates back to the 16th century in County Tyrone, Ireland. In 1598, a man named Shane O'Hocter was listed as a landholder in the area. This spelling variation, O'Hocter, was a common way of rendering the surname in English at that time.

Another early recorded instance of the name can be found in the 1659 Census of Ireland, where a James Hoctor is listed as residing in County Armagh. This census, conducted by the English government after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, provides valuable insight into the distribution of Irish surnames in the mid-17th century.

In the 18th century, the name Hoctor began to appear more frequently in historical records, particularly in the northern counties of Ireland. One notable individual from this period was Patrick Hoctor (1703-1781), a Catholic landowner and merchant from County Fermanagh.

As Irish emigrants began to settle in other parts of the British Isles and North America in the 19th century, the Hoctor surname spread beyond its original homeland. James Hoctor (1830-1907), for example, was a prominent lawyer and politician in Ontario, Canada.

Other notable individuals with the surname Hoctor include:

1. Edward Hoctor (1840-1915), an Irish-American journalist and editor who co-founded the San Francisco Chronicle.
2. Cecilia Hoctor (1892-1975), an Australian novelist and short story writer.
3. John Hoctor (1907-1997), an Irish hurler who played for the Kilkenny senior team in the 1930s.
4. William Hoctor (1915-2003), an American artist and educator known for his landscape paintings.
5. Michael Hoctor (born 1937), an Irish actor and playwright, best known for his work with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

While the name Hoctor may have evolved from the Irish Gaelic Ó hOchtair, it has since become a distinct surname in its own right, with a rich history spanning several centuries and multiple continents.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hoctor

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

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 Hoctor 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 Hoctor 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 Hoctor was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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