Monday, June 13, 2016

Wococon & Wokokon

The earliest known spellings of Ocracoke ("Wococon" and "Wokokon") are found on 1585 maps drawn by John White, who was among those who sailed from England to America as a member of Sir Walter Raleigh's expeditions.

Roger Payne, in his book, Place Names of the Outer Banks, speculates that Wococon could be a tortured  Anglicization of the Algonquian word "waxihikami" which means "enclosed place, fort, or stockade." (See our post on June 10, 2016).

Historian David Stick has a different explanation.  When Walter Raleigh's expedition set foot on Ocracoke in 1584, the explorers reportedly asked the natives they encountered what the name of their country was.  In reply the Indians answered "Wingandacon," which Stick believes became "Wococon."  In truth, the actual reply was "You wear good clothes." 

Over the years I knew I had seen a dozen or more different spellings for the present-day Ocracoke Island.  Curious, in 2003 I decided to compile a list of all the variations I could document. Ultimately I discovered more than fifty distinct names and/or spellings for Ocracoke.

The following chart lists eighteen different spellings (highlighted in yellow), as well as a number of duplicates, from a series of early maps and other documents.  The earliest record of the current "Ocracoke" that I could find was on a map dated 1852.


Date
Name
Document
Author
1585
Wococon
map
John White
1585
Wokokon
map
John White
1590
Wokokon
map
White - De Bry
1606
Wococon
map
Mercator - Hondius
1657
Wococock
map
Nicholaus Comberford
1665
Wococock
survey
T. Woodward
1665
Wococon
survey
T. Woodward
1672
Okok
map
Ogilby
1675
Okok
map
John Speed
1682
Wosoton
map
Joel Gascoyne &
Robert Greene
1689
Wossoton
map
John Thorton &
Will Fisher
1706
Wocoton
map
Johannes Loots
1709
Ocacok
map
John Lawson
1715
Occacock
an act of
the assembly
NC Assembly
1715
Occacoke
map
Henry Mouzon
1717
Occeh
letter
Gov. Spotswood
1718
Occocock
account of capture
of Blackbeard

1732
Ocacock
document/letter
Capt. Burrington
1733
Ocacock
map
Edward Moseley
1733
Ocreecock
deed
Richard Sanderson
1733
Oakerccok
map
James Wimble
1738
Okerccok
map
James Wimble
1770
Occacock
map
John Collet
1775
Occacoke
map
Henry Mouzon
1795
Occacock
map/description
Jonathan Price
1808
Occacock
map
Price - John Strother
1821
Ocracock
map
Leut. Strong
1833
Ocracock
map
Mac Rae - Brazier
1834
Occacock
map
H.S. Tanner
1852
Ocracoke
map
A.D. Bache
1861
Occacock
map
J.H. Colton
1861
Ocracoke
map
Bachman


In addition to the spellings listed above, I located  the following 34 variations mentioned in different books and pamphlets, although no sources were indicated.  These do not include other names by which Ocracoke was sometimes known, such as Pilot Town, Port Bath, Port Grenvil, and Gordons Ile.

Woccon Oecceh Woston
Woccocon Okcrecock Oa Cock
Woccocock Okerecock Oakocock
Occacoe Woccock Occacode
Ococock Wococan Ocrecok
Occek Ocacok Ocacoc
Oakacock Ocraacocke Sequotan
Oacock Ocracook Vokoton
Ocock Okerecok Woccock
Okercock Onoconon Wocotan
Ocrecock Wakokon Wosotan

Wocoken

One of the more enduring early spellings was "Occacock."

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is the dramatic story of life-saver Rasmus Midgett and his rescue of the crew of the barkentine Priscilla in August, 1899. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news052116.htm.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:12 AM

    Pak the ca in Boston is translated to Park the car. If when visiting the beach near there and you hear someone yell "Shak shak they are saying shark shark. Some people call the windy city Chicargo. Miami becomes My-am -ma and so on. Mi-can-o-pee is mispronounced My-canopy and so on there is no doubt a host of linguistic regional dialects that play into today's out. come.. By the way if they thought the Sir Walter Raliegh cat was wearing nice threads why isn't OI called The Gap.??

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  2. I have always been partial to Wokokon :)

    Whatever you call it I am not sure there is a better place on earth.

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