# Whitney (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/whitney/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Middle English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 35,118 |
| US rank (2010) | 994 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 8,792 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.5% (34,251 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈwɪtni/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English hwītan, dative of hwīt (“white”) + īeġ (“island”), "white island".

## Who carries it

Share of people named Whitney in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 85% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 8.4% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Whitney in the United States.

## People named Whitney

- Eli Whitney, American inventor (1765-1825)
- William Dwight Whitney, American orientalist, linguist and lexicographer (1827–1894)
- Mary Watson Whitney, American astronomer (1847–1921)
- Hassler Whitney, American mathematician (1907–1989)
- Phyllis A. Whitney, American writer
- Willis Rodney Whitney, American chemist and founder of the research laboratory of the General Electric Company (1
- Ryan Whitney, American ice hockey player
- Kaylin Whitney, American sprinter
- Lawrence Whitney, American shot putter (1891-1941)
- Josiah Whitney, American geologist (1819–1896)
- William Collins Whitney, American politician, financier; United States Secretary of the Navy (1841-1904)
- Anne Whitney, American sculptor (1821-1915)

and 20 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Whitten, Whitton, Whidden, Whiten, Whitham, Wooten, Wheaton, Wooden, Witham, Weeden, Wathen, Woodham.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.