How common is the surname Whitman?

19,399 people in the United States had the surname Whitman in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 15,916 Americans. It ranked 1,851st of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Whitman?

Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist and journalist (1819–1892), followed by Meg Whitman.

Where is the surname Whitman most common?

Wikidata records people named Whitman in the United States.

How do you pronounce Whitman?

Whitman is /ˈwɪt.mən/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Whitman getting more or less common?

Less common. 19,827 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 19,399 in 2010, down 2.2%.

The surname Whitman

A surname, carried by 19,399 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈwɪt.mən/ 2 syllables Soundex W355

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Whitman is more common than 98.9% of them.

Origin

A surname.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 19,399 people named Whitman in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 15,916 Americans. That is down 2.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 19,827.

#1,851

rank among US surnames

19,399

people in 2010

6.6

per 100,000 Americans

-2.2%

change since 2000 (was #1,656)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,842	Lovett	19,471	15,857
#1,843	Gipson	19,470	15,858
#1,844	Arce	19,464	15,862
#1,845	Wiseman	19,439	15,883
#1,846	Dobson	19,419	15,899
#1,847	Ledbetter	19,417	15,901
#1,848	Arteaga	19,410	15,907

Who is named Whitman

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

89% of people named Whitman identified as white (not Hispanic), 4.2% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 89%
Black (not Hispanic) 4.2%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
Two or more races 1.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Whitmans

13 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Walt Whitman
American poet, essayist and journalist (1819–1892)
Meg Whitman
American business executive, born 1956
Stuart Whitman
American actor (1928-2020)
Charles Whitman
American mass murderer and spree killer; perpetrator of the University of Texas Tower shoo, 1941–1966
Christine Todd Whitman
American politician and author (born 1946)
Slim Whitman
American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist, 1923–2013
Malcolm Whitman
American tennis player (1877-1932)
Charles Otis Whitman
American zoologist (1842–1910)
Gayne Whitman
Actor (1890-1958)
Marina von Neumann Whitman
American economist, 1935–2025
Ernest Whitman
American actor (1893-1954)
Marcus Whitman
American physician and Oregon missionary (1802-1847)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Whitman

Whitman has the Soundex code W355, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W355.

Questions

How common is the surname Whitman?: 19,399 people in the United States had the surname Whitman in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 15,916 Americans. It ranked 1,851st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Whitman?: In the 2010 Census, 89% of people named Whitman identified as white (not Hispanic), and 4.2% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Whitman?: Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist and journalist (1819–1892), followed by Meg Whitman.
Where is the surname Whitman most common?: Wikidata records people named Whitman in the United States.
How do you pronounce Whitman?: Whitman is /ˈwɪt.mən/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Whitman getting more or less common?: Less common. 19,827 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 19,399 in 2010, down 2.2%.