What's in a name? | Moyock, North Carolina

In 1785, the Rev. Thomas Coke wrote that he had preached in "Mowyock," according to the late local historian Marion Fiske Welch.

Coke was close to spelling the town's name as locals pronounced it, Mo-yock. People who don't know better pronounce it Moi-yock.

"They tell on themselves," said Jim Hall, a native and historian of Currituck County's largest community.

Like many Currituck County names, Moyock comes from an Algonquin Indian name. It means "place of the oak on the trail" and appears on a map as early as 1735, Hall said.

Its beginnings as a commercial hub began about 300 years ago, when an industry in cypress shingles thrived along a creek there.

For decades, the place was known as Shingle Landing. When a post office opened there in 1857, the official name returned to Moyock, Welch wrote in "Moyock, a Pictorial and Folk History 1900-1920."

These days, Moyock has a thriving business district along N.C. 168, just south of the border with Virginia. Moyock's population was 4,647, according to the 2000 census, and it has likely increased. Currituck County saw its population grow 30 percent between 2000 and 2006.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com