late 12c., probably from an unrecorded Old English *hop, from Proto-Germanic *hopa-, a Low German-Frisian word (cognates: Old Frisian hop, Middle Dutch and Dutch hoep "hoop," Old Norse hop "a small bay"). As something someone jumps through (on horseback) as a circus trick, by 1793. Figurative use of jump through hoops by 1917. The verb is from mid-15c. Hoop-petticoat is attested from 1711. As a surname, Hooper, literally "maker of hoops" is early 13c.