# What was Jimmy Hoffa's ''ethnicity?'' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734 "2003-03-16T05:27:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/1 "2003-03-16T05:27:13Z")
I saw this question posted “elsewhere,” but have often wondered myself. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/2 "2003-03-16T06:05:33Z")
His “parents” were John Cleveland Hoffa and Viola Riddle Hoffa, and I “believe” he was of “English” descent, but I’m “not” sure. Why the “quotation marks”? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/3 "2003-03-16T06:07:27Z")
I believe his “mother” was of “Irish” descent, “btw”. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/4 "2003-03-16T06:25:17Z")
I believe Hoffa is a Hungarian surname. His background (born to an Indiana coal miner) would make me guess Slovak, hungarian, or something similar. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/5 "2003-03-16T11:28:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by syncrolecyne \* > \*\*I believe Hoffa is a Hungarian surname. His background (born to an Indiana coal miner) would make me guess Slovak, hungarian, or something similar. \*\* Just took a look at the Budapest phone directory sitting on my desk, and there’s a grand total of 0 Hoffas listed. Unless the spelling has been anglicized beyond recognition, I don’t think Hoffa was Hungarian. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/6 "2003-03-16T14:09:34Z")
Yeah, that’s closer to the question I’m axing: "From what country would you expect the name “Hoffa?” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/7 "2003-03-16T15:08:58Z")
Jimmy Hoffa’s father, John C. Hoffman, was of German descent, but his family had been in the United States for several generations. “Hoff” is the German word for “hope,” and there are dozens of common German names that either contain that word, or are variations on that word (from “Hoffman” to “Hassellhoff”). Hoffa’s mother, Violet, was of Irish descent. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/8 "2003-03-16T15:10:30Z")
sorry, that should be “John C. Hoffa.” ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/9 "2003-03-16T20:28:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Captain Amazing \* > **His “parents” were John Cleveland Hoffa and Viola Riddle Hoffa, and I “believe” he was of “English” descent, but I’m “not” sure.** Well, Riddle is a German surname, so he was at least “half-German”. (Some of my ancestors were Riddle as well.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/10 "2003-03-16T20:54:18Z")
Throwing “hoffa ancestry” into Google comes back with several Germanic references (although even those are sparse). On one message thread at [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com), one post indicated that the name Hoffa (or Haffa) originated in Tuttlingen, Germany. I haven’t seen any indications of Slavic, French, or British associations, (and I really doubt that it is Romance). ---
**Author:** ![torirubidoux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@torirubidoux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torirubidoux)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/11 "2013-02-27T06:03:53Z")
My gggrandfather (melvin Scott Riddle)was Jimmy’s uncle. Jimmy’s mother, viola Riddle and melvin riddle are of Cherokee indian decent. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/12 "2013-02-27T11:08:14Z")
This quotation from a book was linked to by the Wikipedia article on Hoffa: > **[Hoffa](https://books.google.com/books?id=86-GAAkOIXIC&pg=PA442&lpg=PA442&dq=sloan%2Bhoffa&source=bl&ots=SIEZidZI3k&sig=yl3NDES8svTChZEkdfXTjLoa1Ts&hl=en&ei=8TzJTO3WJoOClAevpZiVAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=pennsylvania%20dutch&f=false)** > > Arthur Sloane, as a Harvard graduate student, first met Jimmy Hoffa in 1962 and he has been fascinated by this powerful and contradictory figure ever since. Now, nearly three decades after that first encounter, Sloane has written the only... ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/13 "2013-02-27T11:39:00Z")
He was born in Brazil, so I guess that makes him a Brazilian. 😃 (How many is a Brazilian?) ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/14 "2013-02-27T17:13:24Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Yeah, that’s closer to the question I’m axing: "From what country would you expect the name “Hoffa?” Hoffa may have learned something about axing in his later years. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/15 "2013-02-27T17:25:15Z")
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hoffa#cite_note-4) says: “Hoffa’s father, John Hoffa, was a coal miner and of Pennsylvania Dutch (German) lineage” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/16 "2013-02-27T17:43:16Z")
Possibly worth noting that when I first asked this question 10 years ago, Wikipedia was still in its infancy, and the first cite on this board dates back only to June of 2002. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/17 "2013-02-27T19:09:06Z")
Then I suppose the real question is: What is a zombie’s ethnicity? ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/18 "2013-02-27T19:12:51Z")
I’m not sure how accurate [this site](http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org/Default.aspx) is, but it claims the name Hoffa is prevalent in poland. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/19 "2013-02-27T19:58:29Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Jimmy Hoffa’s father, John C. Hoffman, was of German descent, but his family had been in the United States for several generations. > > “Hoff” is the German word for “hope,” and there are dozens of common German names that either contain that word, or are variations on that word (from “Hoffman” to “Hassellhoff”). > > Hoffa’s mother, Violet, was of Irish descent. Hoff is most certainly NOT the German word for hope - that would be ‘Hoffnung’. While the verb hoffen (ich hoffe, du hoffst, etc) is closer, the ‘Hoff’ in all the names that you mention (and possibly in Hoffa’s name) means court and has nothing to do with hope. ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-jimmy-hoffas-ethnicity/161734/20 "2013-02-27T21:11:47Z")
Best answer for the “where are you from?”/“what’s your ethnicity?” question was (with obvious german accent) “Brooklyn, 224th street. (short pause) Before that, Germany.”