Why is the name hobo hobo?

Answer 1

Originally the expression was 'Ho, beau...', meaning 'Hello, handsome...'

There are a variety of possibilities besides the one mentioned above:

"Ho, boy!", a greeting used among railroad worked in the late 1800's.

"hawbuck" and "hawbaw," meaning "an unmannerly lout", English dialect terms

Hobo for Hoboken, NJ, a railroad hub in the 1900's

Hobo for "hopping boxcars"

"hoe boy", an itinerant farm worker, especially during the Great Depression of the 1930's

Answer 2

The term "hobo" is believed to have originated in the Western United States in the late 19th century to describe transient workers. It may come from the term "hoe-boy," which was used to describe itinerant farm workers. Over time, the term "hobo" came to be associated with individuals who traveled by freight train seeking work or adventure.