What is a Hoya?
The University admits that the precise origin of the term "Hoya" is unknown. The official story is that at some point before 1920, students well-versed in the classical languages invented the Greek hoia or hoya, meaning "what" or "such", and the Latin saxa, to form "What Rocks!" Depending on who tells the story, the "rocks" either refer to the baseball team, which was nicknamed the "Stonewalls" after the Civil War, to the stalwart defense of the football team, or to the stone wall that surrounded the campus. In 1920, students began publishing the campus's first regular newspaper under the name The Hoya, after successfully petitioning Rev. Coleman Nevils, S.J., Dean of the College, to change the name of the young paper, which was originally to be known as The Hilltopper. By the fall of 1928, the newspaper had taken to referring to the sports teams (then called the Hilltoppers in reference to Georgetown's geography) as the Hoyas. This was influenced by a popular half time show, where the mascot, a dog nicknamed "Hoya," would entertain fans. Dean Nevils's former school, College of the Holy Cross, also refers to the term "Hoya" in one of its fight songs, as does a third Jesuit school, Marquette University.
Big East and other opponents, whose schools tend to have more concrete nicknames, have long used "What's a Hoya?" as a chant to mock Georgetown. Marquette University, whose fight song is "Ring Out, Ahoya!" will often taunt the Georgetown basketball team with the phrase "Wring out a Hoya." Harrison High School, Located in Kennesaw, Georgia, is the only other institution in the country licensed to share this name. However, Georgetown Preparatory School, which separated from the University in 1927, uses the name "Little Hoyas" for its sports teams and shares the University's blue and gray color scheme. 
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