It is believed to be a compound of the adjective moker 'wet' + the noun noga 'foot of a hill/mountain', thus originally meaning 'wet area at the foot of a mountain'.

[5][6][7] The hypothesis that the name means 'wet foot' as a humorous reference to people living in a wet place is less likely.

[2] The parish church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Giles (Slovene: sveti Egidij) and belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Novo Mesto.

The church tower was redesigned in 1940 based on plans by the architect Janez Valentinčič, a student of Jože Plečnik.

[citation needed] A 13th-century castle with 15th-, 17th-, and 18th-century additions, built on a hill south of the parish church, was burned down by the Yugoslav Partisans after the capitulation of Italy in 1943[10] and further demolished after the Second World War.