The Ho-Chunk speak a Siouan language, which they believe to be given to them by their Creator, Mą’ųna (Earthmaker).
 Their native name is Ho-Chunk (or Hoocạk), which has been variously translated as "sacred voice" or "People of the Big Voice," meaning mother tongue, as in they originated the Siouan language family.
They usually refer to themselves as Hoocąk-waaziija-hači meaning "sacred voice people of the Pines".

The term "Winnebago" is a term used by the Potawatomi, pronounced as "Winnipego."

The Jesuit Relations of 1659–1660 said:
He started, in the month of June of the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight, from the lake of the Ouinipegouek, which is strictly only a large bay in lake Huron.
It is called by others, the lake of the stinkards, not because it is salt like the water of the Sea – which the Savages call Ouinipeg, or stinking water – but because it is surrounded by sulphurous soil, whence issue several springs which convey into this lake the impurities absorbed by their waters in the places of their origin.

Nicolas Perrot was a 17th-century French trader who believed that the Algonquian terms referred to salt-water seas, as these have a distinctive aroma compared with fresh-water lakes.
An early Jesuit record says that the name refers to the origin of Le Puans near the salt water seas to the north.
Algonquins also called the Winnebago, "the people of the sea." (
A Native people who lived on the shores of Hudson Bay were called by the same name.)

When the explorers Jean Nicolet and Samuel de Champlain learned of the "sea" connection to the tribe's name, they were optimistic that it meant Les puans were from or had lived near the Pacific Ocean.
They hoped it indicated a passage to China via the great rivers of the Midwest.

In recent studies, ethnologists have speculated that the Hoocągra, like the other Siouan-speaking peoples, originated on the east coast of North America and gradually migrated west.
Recently, several Hoocąk elders have claimed that they originated in the Midwest and that they predated the last ice age.
The early 20th-century researcher H.R. Holand claimed they originated in Mexico, where they had contact with the Spanish and gained a knowledge of horses.
David Lee contends the Hoocąk were once akin to the Olmec there.
His evidence derived from a culture based on corn growing, civilization type, and mound building.
This followed the receding ice shield.
However, Holand cites the records of Jonathan Carver, who lived with the Hoocągra in 1766–1768.
But, contact with the Spanish could have occurred along the Gulf of Mexico or the south Atlantic coast, where other Hoocąk type tribes originated and lived for centuries.
Others suggested that the Hoocągra originated near saltwater, to explain how mid-western tribes had a knowledge of the Pacific Ocean, which they described as being located where the earth ends and the sun sets into the sea.
Oral histories from a past Hoocąk orator, Wakąhaga, or Snake Skin, say that they migrated to Wisconsin from the Pacific southwest, where their endonym originally meant "People of the Big Fish", or more accurately "People of the Whale".
Generally, however, the Hoocągra today claim that their people have always lived in what is now the north central United States.
Linguistic and ethnographic studies have generated other deep histories of the various American Indian peoples.
The Ho-Chunk speak a Siouan language, which they believe to be given to them by their Creator, Mą’ųna (Earthmaker).  Their native name is Ho-Chunk (or Hoocạk), which has been variously translated as "sacred voice" or "People of the Big Voice," meaning mother tongue, as in they originated the Siouan language family. They usually refer to themselves as Hoocąk-waaziija-hači meaning "sacred voice people of the Pines".
The term "Winnebago" is a term used by the Potawatomi, pronounced as "Winnipego."
The Jesuit Relations of 1659–1660 said:
He started, in the month of June of the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight, from the lake of the Ouinipegouek, which is strictly only a large bay in lake Huron. It is called by others, the lake of the stinkards, not because it is salt like the water of the Sea – which the Savages call Ouinipeg, or stinking water – but because it is surrounded by sulphurous soil, whence issue several springs which convey into this lake the impurities absorbed by their waters in the places of their origin.
Nicolas Perrot was a 17th-century French trader who believed that the Algonquian terms referred to salt-water seas, as these have a distinctive aroma compared with fresh-water lakes. An early Jesuit record says that the name refers to the origin of Le Puans near the salt water seas to the north. Algonquins also called the Winnebago, "the people of the sea." (A Native people who lived on the shores of Hudson Bay were called by the same name.)
When the explorers Jean Nicolet and Samuel de Champlain learned of the "sea" connection to the tribe's name, they were optimistic that it meant Les puans were from or had lived near the Pacific Ocean. They hoped it indicated a passage to China via the great rivers of the Midwest.
In recent studies, ethnologists have speculated that the Hoocągra, like the other Siouan-speaking peoples, originated on the east coast of North America and gradually migrated west. Recently, several Hoocąk elders have claimed that they originated in the Midwest and that they predated the last ice age. The early 20th-century researcher H.R. Holand claimed they originated in Mexico, where they had contact with the Spanish and gained a knowledge of horses. David Lee contends the Hoocąk were once akin to the Olmec there. His evidence derived from a culture based on corn growing, civilization type, and mound building. This followed the receding ice shield. However, Holand cites the records of Jonathan Carver, who lived with the Hoocągra in 1766–1768. But, contact with the Spanish could have occurred along the Gulf of Mexico or the south Atlantic coast, where other Hoocąk type tribes originated and lived for centuries. Others suggested that the Hoocągra originated near saltwater, to explain how mid-western tribes had a knowledge of the Pacific Ocean, which they described as being located where the earth ends and the sun sets into the sea. Oral histories from a past Hoocąk orator, Wakąhaga, or Snake Skin, say that they migrated to Wisconsin from the Pacific southwest, where their endonym originally meant "People of the Big Fish", or more accurately "People of the Whale". Generally, however, the Hoocągra today claim that their people have always lived in what is now the north central United States. Linguistic and ethnographic studies have generated other deep histories of the various American Indian peoples.
Ho-Chunk