hooge

Hooge is a toponym and surname of Dutch origin. In Dutch and Flemish contexts, hooge means “high” and is used in place names to denote elevated ground. The spelling Hooghe is also encountered in historical documents. The modern best-known use is as a place name in Belgium: a small hamlet in West Flanders, part of the municipality of Zonnebeke, located near Ypres. The site sits on gently raised ground in the Flemish countryside and is linked to the broader Ypres Salient, a major theater of World War I. During the war, the Hooge area was the site of extended combat and trench warfare, and today the landscape contains memorials, cemeteries, and preserved trenches that reflect the region’s wartime history.

Beyond the Belgian locality, Hooge appears as a surname in the Netherlands and Belgium, derived from the same toponymic or topographic origins. Individuals bearing the name may be found in genealogical records and contemporary population lists. The form Hooghe is an alternate spelling in older documents or in French-influenced contexts. In modern usage, Hooge retains limited usage as a place name outside Belgium but remains most prominent in Belgian toponymy and in genealogical references to Dutch-speaking populations.