How common is the surname Whitney?

35,118 people in the United States had the surname Whitney in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 8,792 Americans. It ranked 994th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Whitney?

Eli Whitney, American inventor (1765-1825), followed by William Dwight Whitney.

Where is the surname Whitney most common?

Wikidata records people named Whitney in the United States.

How do you pronounce Whitney?

Whitney is /ˈwɪtni/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Whitney getting more or less common?

More common. 34,251 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 35,118 in 2010, up 2.5%.

Is Whitney also a first name?

Yes. Whitney is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Whitney

An English place surname, carried by 35,118 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈwɪtni/ 2 syllables Soundex W350 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Whitney is more common than 99.4% of them.

Origin

English origin

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

Whitney is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 35,118 people named Whitney in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 8,792 Americans. That is up 2.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 34,251.

#994

rank among US surnames

35,118

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+2.5%

change since 2000 (was #934)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#985	Jarvis	35,350	8,734
#986	Dickson	35,312	8,743
#987	Reyna	35,291	8,749
#988	Cantrell	35,266	8,755
#989	Mayo	35,228	8,764
#990	Branch	35,225	8,765
#991	Hendrix	35,194	8,773

Who is named Whitney

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

85% of people named Whitney identified as white (not Hispanic), 8.4% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

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

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Whitneys

32 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

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, 1903–2008
Willis Rodney Whitney
American chemist and founder of the research laboratory of the General Electric Company (1, 1868–1958
Ryan Whitney
American ice hockey player, born 1983
Kaylin Whitney
American sprinter, born 1998
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)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Whitney

Whitney has the Soundex code W350, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W350.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Whitney come from?: From Old English hwītan, dative of hwīt (“white”) + īeġ (“island”), "white island".
How common is the surname Whitney?: 35,118 people in the United States had the surname Whitney in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 8,792 Americans. It ranked 994th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Whitney?: In the 2010 Census, 85% of people named Whitney identified as white (not Hispanic), and 8.4% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Whitney?: Eli Whitney, American inventor (1765-1825), followed by William Dwight Whitney.
Where is the surname Whitney most common?: Wikidata records people named Whitney in the United States.
How do you pronounce Whitney?: Whitney is /ˈwɪtni/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Whitney?: Whitney is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Whitney getting more or less common?: More common. 34,251 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 35,118 in 2010, up 2.5%.
Is Whitney also a first name?: Yes. Whitney is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.