Applewhite
An English locational surname from a place-name meaning “apple clearing” or “apple meadow.”
The #8,882 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 83,739 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Applewhite is generally understood as a reduced or altered form of Applethwaite, a northern English place-name. The second element comes from Old Norse 'þveit' / Middle English 'thwaite', meaning a clearing, meadow, or piece of land cut out of woodland; the first element is 'apple'. In effect, the name points to a place where apple trees grew or an apple clearing.
History
The surname is associated especially with northern England, where thwaite-place-names are common, and it is often cited as a contracted spelling of Applethwaite. 19th-century surname writers also compare it with other reduced forms such as Hebblewhite and Kibblewhite, where 'thwaite' has been shortened to 'white'. In modern use it survives as a relatively uncommon British-origin surname found in the United States and elsewhere.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley and later writers used Applewhite as a classic example of how 'thwaite' could be worn down in local pronunciation until it looked like 'white' in surnames.
From the historical record
“imitative form of Forty. WMte for thvatte, a clearing. Cf Applewhite, Kibblewbite, Hebblewhite, &c. Thorpe becomes thmp, throp, trup, or trop. Cf. Calthrop for Calthorp, Feltrup for Felthorp, WJnthrop for Winthorp, Guotrop for Gunthorp, &c, Thrupp for Thorpe is well known to our directories.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances