Hogg
A surname most often taken from the animal name “hog,” though some families may instead descend from a Norse personal name.
The #4,945 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 43,369 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The commonest explanation is that Hogg began as a nickname from Old English hogg, “hog, pig,” or from a related animal-term used for a swineherd or someone thought to resemble a hog in some way. Some writers also suggested a secondary link with Old English hog, “prudent, careful, thoughtful,” though that is usually treated as a less likely folk-friendly explanation. A separate tradition, especially for northern Scottish families, connects the name with a Scandinavian personal name, Hougo/Hugo, said to have belonged to a Norwegian settler.
History
Medieval records show Hogg as a fairly common nickname surname, alongside other animal-based names such as Pigg, Bacon, Wildbore, and Purcell. In Scotland, later writers often repeated a local tradition that some Hogg families descend from a Norse settler in Ettrick Forest. The surname remains especially familiar in Scotland and northern England, and it is also well known through literary and historical figures such as James Hogg, the Scottish writer and poet.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname was so common in medieval records that 19th-century surname writers grouped it with a whole cluster of animal-based bynames, from Bacon to Wildbore.
From the historical record
“herd. HOGG. HOGGE. The animal— analo- gous to Wildbore, Purcell, &c. Those who object to be classed with the swinish multi- tude may prefer a derivation from the A- Sax. hog, whicli means prudent, careful, thoughtful. The northern Hoggs, however, claim descent from Hougo, a Noi-vs'egian baron, who is said to have…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom