What's in a name?

It is clear that Jim Hogg adored his only daughter. She and the rest of his family spent Christmas 1905 with him at Varner Plantation. That would be his last Christmas. It was not the last, however, of the gift he gave Ima: her name. She would live with it until her death in 1975.

         Why he named her Ima, even after all these years, is still not clear.

         Name stories abound. When J. S. Hogg was elected governor of Texas in 1890, newspapers all over the United States carried items about his children’s names. As we would say today, the name stories “went viral.” Here are some samples:

Texas ought to be proud of its governor, Hogg, whose two girls and boy have been named by himself, “Ima Hogg, Ura Hogg and Moore Hogg.”

--The Atchison [Kansas] Champion, April 24, 1891.

Governor Hogg of Texas named one of his daughters Ima Hogg. Her reproach to her father must be, “you’re another.”

--Daily Evening Bulletin [San Francisco] May 2, 1891.

Governor Hogg, of Texas, has three bright children, two girls and a boy, whose names respectively are said to be Ima Hogg, Ura Hogg and Moore Hogg. These names were bestowed by Governor Hogg himself.

--The Atchison [Kansas] Daily Globe, May 19, 1891.

And these were just the beginning.