FAQ: Georgetown Campus and Neighborhood

(This excerpt is from Georgetown Fast Facts)

What's a Hoya? 

Contrary to popular perception, the word “Hoya” actually had nothing to do with classical Greek.  It simply was the preferred college yell or cheer used by students at Georgetown (whose first teams were known as the Hilltoppers) in the early years of college athletics.  In addition to the traditional “hurrahs,” “huzzah, huzzahs, “ and “hip, hip, hoorays” attached to a school’s name and its colors, spirited students would search to find their own rousing cry.  On the Hilltop, it was simply “hoya, hoya, Georgetown.” The yell “Hoya Saxa” was first reported in a newspaper account of a Georgetown football game in 1894.  Georgetown fans were described as “encouraging their athletes with their college yell of ’Hoya-hoya-saxa!’”  By the end of the century, the cheer had become established as the Georgetown College yell.  Like the cheer of rival school Virginia (“Wahoo-wah”), the Georgetown College yell evolved into the nickname for the teams themselves, who eventually became known far and wide as the Georgetown Hoyas.