The Hockanum River is a river in Connecticut. Hockanum is derived from the Native American Podunk people Algonquin language word meaning "hook-shaped", so named because of the course of the river. The Hockanum neighborhood in East Hartford is named after it. It rises at the outlet of Shenipsit Lake in Rockville, then flows through Vernon, Ellington, Manchester, and East Hartford. Its mouth on the Connecticut River is immediately north of the Charter Oak Bridge and south of and across from the mouth of the Park River.