Shikhovuz is a village in the Zangezur uezd of the former Yelizavetpol (Ganja) governorate, later in the former Gafan district, and currently in the Syunik province. The provincial centre lies 23 km to the southeast of town of Gapan, at a height of 980 m above sea level.

After the establishment of the Zangezur uezd in Soviet Armenia on 31 August 1921, the settlement was integrated into the administrative area of Armenia. Its name was marked as “Shikhauz” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus, and was mentioned as “Shikahogh”, “Shkhavuz” in the Armenian authors’ works. In 1926 three Azerbaijanis lived in the village.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the word “shikh”, which is the vernacular form of the word “Sheikh” and the ethnonym “Ovuz” (a dialectal form of the ethnonym “Oghuz”), which reflects the name of the Oghuz Turkic tribe. It is an ethnotoponym. The name of the village was Armenianised and renamed “Shikahokh”.

According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative area of the Syunik province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 39°05’ N., longitude46°28’ E.