# Whittaker (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 17,234 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,100 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 17,915 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.8% (16,441 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈʍɪɾɪkɚ/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Whittaker 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) | 76% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 18% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.9% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Whittaker in the United States, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

## People named Whittaker

- Robert Whittaker, American ecologist (1920–1980)
- Robert Whittaker, Australian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter
- Benjamin Whittaker, boxer
- Meredith Whittaker, American artificial intelligence research scientist
- Joseph Whittaker, British botanist, collected in Australia in 1839-40
- Isabella Whittaker, American athlete (born 2002)
- Charles Evans Whittaker, American judge (1901-1973)
- Juliette Whittaker, American middle-distance runner (born 2003)
- Tampa Red, American Chicago blues musician (1904-1981)

## Similar surnames

Whitaker, Whitacre, Whiteaker, Whitcher, Wadsworth, Witcher, Wedgeworth, Widger, Whitchurch.

## 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.