FAMILIA : HOCOG

Paterno S. Hocog and his family in Luta

1959

It has been spelled over the years in a variety of ways, but Hocog is the Chamorro word hokkok, which means "depleted, exhausted, consumed" but it can also mean "total, complete, perfect" as in "hokkok minagof-ho," or "my joy is complete."  It can also mean "the last," as in "hokkok finatoigue-ña nu siha," or "it is his last visit to them."  The three meanings stem from the idea that one can go no further; when something runs out, when something cannot be any more complete than it already is and when something is ultimate and final.

Everyone knows that Hocog is a Rota (Luta) name, but there were Guam-born Hocogs, as in Hågat.  But this was in the 1850s and the name died out on Guam.

Some Humorous Stories

Because this last name is an actual word in Chamorro, some funny incidents and jokes have come from it.

An older gentleman, now deceased, told me many years ago that he was a government clerk after the war.  A man from Luta moved down to Guam and had to register with this clerk for some reason or another.  The clerk asked his name.  He gave his first name and his last name.  But the clerk also wanted his middle name.  The man said Hocog ("no more").  The clerk insisted, "Tell me your middle name!"  "Hocog!" the man from Luta repeated.  But the Guamanian clerk only understood him to mean hokkok; "That's all!  No more!"

And then there's the old joke about the man from Luta who died.  Why did he die?  Hocog Mangloña.  Hokkok manglo'-ña.  He ran out of wind (breath).  Both are Rotanese names that have meanings.