Probably had something to do with Shao Kahn and their affiliation with Outworld. Take out the "a" from Shao and the "h" from Kahn. Slap 'em together and boom you got an original name... much like Mokap!

Goro was called a Shokan in MK1 though and Shao Kahn wasn't thought up until MK2.

I could investigate that Shokan is a town in the state of New York hahaha. GORO: This character name is stranger. First, he was called Rokuro, later Gongoro and now Goro. How about the meaning of these names?

I really wish there was a good explanation on the etymology of certain names and such. My guess is that Shokan comes from Japanese. Perhaps it is derived from the term referring to a general or admiral of an army.

On google translate it says that it means jurisdiction in Japanese

I'd recommend searching with the keyword shoka, since Shokan probably means "of Shoka". Initially I was thinking that the word could also derive from shogun; but shikken may match with the Shokans, notorious for being subbosses, a little better. Here may be the answer (or a part of it.)

Swedish for "pummels the fuck out of movie-exclusive characters."