"Ocooch" is an obsolete name for the highlands in south-western Wisconsin.

Its first use was in Edwin James' three-volume work "An Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, Performed in the Years 1819, 1820...under the Command of Maj. S.H. Long." James wrote, "The only hills worthy of particular notice, not only in this variety, but in the whole section under consideration, are the Ocooch and Smokey mountains, which are broad and elevated ridges rather than mountains. The former is situated about twelve miles north of the Wisconsan one hundred miles above its mouth..." He later says, "The third is a range of hilly and broken country, commencing on the Wisconsan near the Portage, and extending northwardly to Lake Superior. To this range we have taken the liberty to give the name of the Wisconsan Hills. The Ocooch and Smoke Mountains before mentioned, are connected with this range." James' description suggests that the term Ocooch was used only for the southernmost portion of the western uplands.

Three years later, Maj. Stephen Long led a second expedition into the upper Mississippi Valley. It was described in William Keating's "Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River."  Keating writes of western Wisconsin, "To this region the name of the Wisconsan Hills has been given, which are terminated on the south by the Ocooch and Smoky Mountains, whose altitude is about twelve hundred feet above the common level, or two thousand feet above tide water. Its aspect is exceedingly diversified by hills and vallies, the former of which are high and rugged, supporting a heavy growth of pine, &c. while the latter often present extensive flats, abounding in lakes, swamps, and ponds, yielding wild rice in great abundance and perfection."

Keating's report on the 1823 Long expedition included a "Map of the country embracing the route of the expedition of 1823 commanded by Major S.H. Long". The name Ocooch is placed on this map approximately where the Baraboo Hills are located. Hachures extend the range to the north and northwest, but the implication is that the name Ocooch applied only to its southernmost end.

An 1833 map, "Northwest and Michigan Territories" issued by Baldwin and Craddock for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge also depicted the western highlands of Wisconsin. Unlike James and Keating, it placed the label Ocooch Mountains further north at the headwaters of the Black, La Crosse, Kickapoo and Pine Rivers. It showed the range running roughly north-northeast through modern La Crosse, Jackson, Clark and Taylor counties.

Although the Ho-Chunk and Iowa languages contain phonetic equivalents for the sound "Ocooch", there is no clear evidence that the name entered English from either of those indigenous languages.

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