Whiting
An English surname usually derived from White, originally a nickname or byname for someone fair-haired or light-complexioned.
The #2,221 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,805 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is generally explained as a patronymic or family form of White. In this sense it goes back to Old English hwit, meaning “white” or “fair,” with the surname developing from a personal nickname or from a bearer called White. Some 19th-century writers also proposed an alternative local origin from a place-name meaning “white meadow,” but the patronymic explanation is the more straightforward and commonly accepted one.
History
The surname is long established in England and appears in medieval records in spellings such as Wyting. It spread to other English-speaking regions, especially through later migration, and is well represented in Britain and the United States. Historical surname writers sometimes discussed it alongside related forms such as Whitting and Whittingham.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower explicitly treated Whiting as the patronymical form of White, showing that fish-name interpretations were not considered the main explanation for the surname.
From the historical record
“ham{m] WHITING (Eng.) i the A.-Sax. pers. name Hwiting = Hwit(a)'s Son [O.E. hwit, white, fair + the ' son ' suff. -itig] Gerin Wyting. — Hund. Rolls. 2 Dweller at the White Meadow [O.E. hwit + O. North. & East. E. ing (O.N. eng), a meadow]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)