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Druis2264 Posted 19 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation

Hoch (Last Name)

Hi. My last name is Hoch and all my life I've been told it was pronounced like "hoke", but I have a philosophy professor that knows German and says it's pronounced "hock". I know the work "hoch" meaning "high" is pronounced to sound like "hock", but I mean my father has our family crest (and it's valid) and, seemingly, knows a lot about our history and last name and he swears to it being pronounced "hoke". I've also had another teacher that knows German and pronounced it "hoke" (the way I assumed it was pronounced correctly). I looked it up and the word branches off of an old high german word "hoh" pronounced "hoe" and I'm thinking maybe because it's a title for a family it may be pronounced differently than the word for "high". Anybody have any answers? (Also all of my relatives that share the name pronounce it "hoke" as well)
  

Top answer

Hi Druis Welcome to EnglishForward. The German pronunciation of "hoch" is closer to the English word "hoke" than it is to the English word "hock". However, "hoke" is still only an approximation.

— Yankee

  • Hi Druis Welcome to EnglishForward.
  • The German pronunciation of "hoch" is closer to the English word "hoke" than it is to the English word "hock".
  • However, "hoke" is still only an approximation.
  • To really begin to get the pronunciation "right", you would also need to master the standard German pronunciation of "ch" -- which unfortunately is a sound that doesn't exist in English.
  • PS I speak German and also lived in Germany for 17 years.
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24 Answers
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Hi Druis

Welcome to EnglishForward.

The German pronunciation of "hoch" is closer to the English word "hoke" than it is to the English word "hock". However, "hoke" is still only an approximation. To really begin to get the pronunciation "right", you would also need to master the standard German pronunciation of "ch" -- which unfortunately is a sound that doesn't exist in Englis
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Yeah the "ch" is like a sound in the back of the throat, more like a "hauckkkk" like a "haucking" a loogie? But yeah thanks a lot for the help.
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My last name is the same and all through out my family tree we pronounce it like "Hoke". My father and grandfather assumed that it was a prefix for something like Hochstein or Hochveiller (the hoch pronounced "hoc") and when my ancestors moved to America it changed to Hoch as was popular at the time. They also concluded that it should technically be pronounced like "Hoc" however we should pronoun
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<<My last name is Hoch and all my life I've been told it was pronounced like "hoke", but I have a philosophy professor that knows German and says it's pronounced "hock".>>
Maybe you are pronouncing Hoch in English and the professor is pronouncing it in German -- or what he thinks is the German pronunciation.

In any case, I'm having trouble determining whether your
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so ur name is hoch my last name is hoke but see i dont know my father so i dont know what my last means
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Hoch and hoke originate with Hochburg. At the northern side of Hedeby was once a natural hill with a fortress called Hochburg, meaning "hill fort at the summit." Hochburg became known as Oldenburg, meaning old hill-fort. Oldenburg in Germany was named by the Danes for the location at Hedeby. Hoch essentially means high or summit and is synonymous with Har and Haa (ie Hacourt, Belgium and Harco
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Yes, it is pronounced hoch as in joke.
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HI! my last name is Hoche its origanal spelling was Hoak then Hoch and finily Hoche but like you say its pronounced hoke like as in yoke only with a h it can be very confusing when the spelling of names are changed I hope this helps Thankyou t
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my last name is hoch as well, and my family has had many different ways of pronoucning it. at first we pronoucned it "hoe". but the didnt work out to well. we pronounced it "hawk" as well, but now when asked for my last name, i instinctively reply "hoke". i would think that the correct pronunciation of the name i s" hawk" just becuase , idk, it does seems to fit in with alot of german words. :]
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My last name is Hochstein and my family pronounces it Hoke-Stine. As a militray family we were separated from my extended family and I grew up pronouncing it Hawk-Stine because that just seemed easier, but as a child but that lead to many unfavorable manipulations. After realizing that the entire rest of my family pronounced it Hoke-Stine I adopted that pronunciation as adult.
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