This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Roger,' from nick. Hodge or Hogg; compare Mag and Madge, from Margaret, (a) Nick, 'the hog'; compare Pigg, Grice, Wildbore, Bacon, &c.

Alice le Hog, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Philip le Hog, Kent, ibid.

Peter Hog, Yorkshire, ibid.

Nicholas Hogg, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Oliver le Hogg: ibid.

(3) Local, 'at the Hog,' a signname; compare Roebuck (a).

Richard del Hog, 1313. Writs of Parliament.

1698. Married — Thomas Kneaton and Jane Hogg: St. Man' Aldermary.

This surname is usually explained as a nickname derived from the name of the animal. "This agrees," says the late Professor Skeat, "with the fact that Hogg is a common surname at this day; and with a still more important fact that it was thus used as a surname even in the eleventh century" (Proceeding, Cambridge Philological Society, 1902, p. 16). Ailmer Hogg occurs twice in the Ramsay Chartulary, I, p. 188, and III, p. 39, in documents of 1043—79. Philip le Hog appears in the English Hundred Rolls in 1274, and Alan le Hogge in a Lancashire Inquisition in 1323. While the surname is thus possibly derived in some instances from the name of the animal there are other undoubted instances pointing to different origins. About the year 1280 Andrew Fraser gave to the Abbey of Kelso a bondman, Adam the son of Henry del Hoga (i.e. 'of the Hog') "nativo meo cum tota sequela sua" (Kelso, p. 95). About the year 1250 mention is made of the croft of Henry de Hoga in Gordun, Berwickshire (ibid., 121,122), and c. 1270 John de Grantham, son and heir of Emma the daughter and heir of Salomon del Hoga, made a grant from her lands at Berwick, which Radulph de Bernewill held, to the monks of Kelso (ibid., 36). Again about 1280 there is mention of the croft which Adam del Hoga held in the time of Lady Alycie de Gordun (ibid., p. 95). Thurcyl hoga is one of the witnesses to a charter of Cnut, 1024 (Kemble, Codex Dipl., IV, 741). The spelling of the name here, Hoga, the earliest record of its occurrence, certainly points to Old English hoga, 'careful,' 'prudent,' as origin of the name at least in this instance. Turkil Hog, a serf of Bertram son of Adam of Lesser Riston, was sold to the monks of Coldingham along "with his sons and daughters for three merks of silver, which in my great want they gave me of the money of the house of Coldingham" (Nat. MSS., I, 54). Malmor Hoge is included in the inhibition directed against Malcolm, earl of Levenax and his adherents by the bishop of Glasgow in 1294 (RMP., p. 203). Henry Hogg' of Roxburghshire, and John Hog, burgess of Edinburgh, took the oath of fealty to England in 1296 (Bain, II, p. 197,200). There seems to have been a family of this name of great prominence in Edinburgh in the fourteenth century. Roger Hog was one of the most influential burgesses of the city between 1358 and 1363, and Simon Hog appears as a burgess in 1402 (Egidii, p. 5, 39; RMS., I, 164; ER., III, p. 83). Alan Hog, Scottish merchant, complained in 1370 of his goods being carried on by English wreckers (Bain, IV, 164), and seven years later Isabelle Hog or Hoge held a tenement in Edinburgh (RMS., I, 650,684). In 1379 the Castle of Berwick was taken from the English by Hog, Lydzetwod, and their companions. John Hog was presbyter and notary public in the diocese of Glasgow, 1462 (Neubotle, 290), Archibald Hoge was king's officer in Irvine, 1529 (Irvine, I, p. 36), and John Hoge, portioner of Dryburgh, heir of William Hoge, his father, was retoured heir in certain lands in Berwickshire, 1661 (Retours, Berwick, 316). Thomas Hog (1628—1692) was a prominent Covenanter, and James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, is the best known bearer of the name. The Hoges and Hoggs of Virginia, U. S., are descended from three brothers who emigrated from Edinburgh, c. 1745. Hogge 1656, Hogh 1496, Hoig 1515, Hoige 1526, Hogis (not pi.) 1519, Howg 1686.

The animal-analogous to Wildbore, Purcell, &c. Those who object to be classed with the swinish multitude may prefer a derivation from the Anglo-Saxon hog, which means prudent, careful, thoughtful. The northern Hoggs, however, claim descent from Hougo, a Norwegian baron, who is said to have settled in Ettrick Forest. Folks of Shields, p. 43. Who would have guessed at the baronial descent of our great Shepherd.

The family bear three boar's heads erased azure, in their arms, whence probably the name.

Same as Hoag (which see).

Same as Hogg, Hogge, Hugh, Hugo; from D. hoog, high.

Hog: was a family name, as Hogg. A man so called was being tried before Judge Bacon on a capital charge. He pleaded to be dealt with mercifully on account of the relationship implied by his name. “No, my friend,” said the Chief Justice, “not till you are hanged.” Richard III. assumed as his symbol the boar, and inns with this sign date from his reign. It was said: “The Rat, the Cat, and Lovel the Dog, Rule all England under the Hog.”

The Rat was Radcliffe, and the Cat was Catesby. Other names for a hog are, as already given, Gryse, also Galt; both have contributed to our nomenclature. Sug was a sow, and comes into the name Sugden. Pig is also a surname; Christopher Pigg was Lord Mayor of Lyme Regis in 1742. The name Piggott, or little pig, came in with the Conquest; it occurs several times in Domesday; but the derivation is probably from pigge, a little girl.

Hogg was the name of proprietors in Greenhead and Acomb in the reign of Charles II. (H.). In the 13th century the names of Hog and Le Hog occurred in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Oxfordshire (H. R.). The Northumberland Hoggs, however, are evidently connected in their origin with the Hoggs of the Scottish border counties. Hocg, according to Ferguson, is an Anglo - Saxon man's name, and from it have been derived the two kindred names of Hogg and Hodge.