Ima Hogg - Name

Name

After the birth of his only daughter, Jim Hogg wrote to his brother, "Our cup of joy is now overflowing! We have a daughter of as fine proportions and of as angelic mien as ever gracious nature favor a man with, and her name is Ima!" Ima Hogg had no middle name, which was unusual for the time. Her first name was taken from her uncle Thomas Hogg's epic Civil War poem The Fate of Marvin, which featured two young women named Ima and Leila. According to Virginia Bernhard's biography of Ima Hogg, "there are some who believe that James Stephen Hogg ... named his only daughter Ima Hogg to attract the attention of Texas voters" in a year when he was running in a close race for district attorney of the Seventh District in Texas, which he won. Alternatively, correspondence from Jim Hogg indicates he may not have been conscious of the combined effect of his daughter’s first and last names.

Ima Hogg later recounted that "my grandfather Stinson lived fifteen miles from Mineola and news traveled slowly. When he learned of his granddaughter's name he came trotting to town as fast as he could to protest but it was too late. The christening had taken place, and Ima I was to remain." During her childhood, Hogg's elder brother William often came home from school with a bloody nose, the result of defending, as she later recalled, "my good name". Throughout her adult years, Hogg signed her name in a scrawl that left her first name illegible. Her personal stationery was usually printed "Miss Hogg" or "I. Hogg", and she often had her stationery order placed in her secretary's name to avoid questions. Hogg did not use a nickname until several months before her death, when she began calling herself "Imogene". Her last passport was issued to "Ima Imogene Hogg".

Contrary to popular belief, Ima did not have a sister named Ura. Texas legend insists that when Jim Hogg ran for re-election as Texas governor in 1892 he often travelled with Ima and a friend of hers and introduced them as his daughters Ima and Ura. Ima Hogg maintained throughout her life that this never happened. She was frequently forced to dispel the myth; hundreds of people wrote her letters inquiring whether her name was real and if she really had a sister named Ura. The Kansas City Star even invented another sister, Hoosa.

In the early 1930s, Hogg worked on a collection of her father's papers and speeches with his biographer, historian Robert C. Cotner; she became a guardian of his place in history, often writing to clarify or refute articles published about her father. According to Bernhard, "the very fact that Ima had been burdened with a name that made a lifetime of explanations necessary also made her anxious to defend her father from all detractors. By doing so, she defended herself as well, and she did so with considerable skill and unfailing politeness."

Ima Hogg has been the source of "unfortunate name" or "worst baby name" jokes, lists, and contests, including the incorrect lore that Jim Hogg had named his two daughters "Ima Hogg" and "Ura Hogg". Similar unfortunate baby names according to United States Census records include Ima Pigg, Ima Muskrat, Ima Nut, Ima Hooker, Ima Weiner, Ima Reck, Ima Pain and Ima Butt.