Last name: White

Recorded as White, Wight, Whyte, and the unusual Whight, this is an English surname of the most ancient origins. It has a number of possible origins. In the single spellings of White or Wita, it appears in the very earliest surviving registers such as the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of the pre 9th century a.d. Whilst translating as white, the early name referred either to a baby, one who was "unblemished", or it may have been for some nameholders an ethnic term given to a Viking or Anglo-Saxon, who were pale in hair and complexion compared with the original native Celts, who were dark. Another possible origin is residential. If so this could describe somebody who lived at a "wiht", generally regarded as being the bend of a river, but in some areas of the country could describe a stretch of land suitable for grazing. It could also mean "The wait", as in the village name of White in Devon, which originally, it is claimed, denoted a place suitable for an ambush! Lastly the name can be Huguenot 17th century. Many French people called 'Blanc' fled France after 1685, and in England they changed their name to White. Early examples of the surname recording taken from surving charters and egisters include: Ordgar se Wite of Somerset in the year 1070, Walter le Wytte in London in 1284, and William le Wytt, in the Subsidy Rolls of York in 1327. Amongst many interesting recordings is that of William White, who sailed on the famous ship "Mayflower" in 1620. Sadly he lived only a short time and was recorded as being buried at "Elizabeth Cittie, Virginea" in 1624. The Ancient and Feudal Arms of England show that a Sir John White (also spelt Whyght) in the time of King Edward 11 (1307-1327), was listed as having fought at the battle of Boroughbridge in Yorkshire 1322, when the Scots were defeated. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Alwin Wit. This was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book for Hampshire, during the reign of King William 1, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087.

Visitor Comments

Jon R White
I had always believed that my family had moved to England from Ireland, where immigrants were forced to change their names to a Color (White, Black, etc...), Trade (Miller, Baker, etc...) or City (London, etc...).

gemma white
I decided to look into my family tree and found this site. My Grandma thought we were Scotts. I have now found my name( White) is English.

Sarah White
same here! my grandparents thought we scotts and i believed them until i found this site as my grandparents are from up north

Annie
My Great Grandfather Henry White was born Henri LaBlanc, but changed his name when he wanted to go into showbiz in America. He was a vaudevillian.

Heather
My maiden name is white. And those that came over from across the pond, changed it from LeBlanc to White :) Small world.

Annie
P.S. he was french canadian.

jackie white
i was told that my family who lived in suffolk had moved over from ireland

Not saying
The Whight's are mostly found around Ipswich in Suffolk. Earliest I can find is John de Whight 1316 who married the relic of Henry de Coventre and adopted her two children. Perhaps we are de Coventres. :-)

cheryl watson (nee white)
hi all my family of white is from derbyshire but i can only trace it back to 1811.we came from some where else but am unsure where as i can not find it.hints or help is most apreciated

Janice Wylie
tracing White in my family tree so far all from Glasgow only got back to 1840

Daniel White
The White family is related to the Windsor family which traces back to royal bloodline (blue blood).

Vickey Townsend (Hyndman, Corey, White)
My grandmother Vivian Corey (White) told me we were desendants of the royal family but would not discuss the details

John Smith
Wihtgar, the Jutish first king of the Isle of Wight, was the nephew of Cerdic, the founder of the House of Wessex, which was the last native English royal dynasty, ending in 1066. Threads from the House of Wessex run down to the House of Windsor and Queen Elizabeth II, and backwards through Cerdic to Woden, the principle pre-christian ancestral god of the anglosaxons, after whom Wednesday is still named (Woden's Day)

christoper joseph white
The Windsor's came from Hanover Germany and so did the Saxon

Graeme Wight
im sure my family name comes from hugenot france. always wondered why i liked onions so much

John White
According to the Surname profiler website, Whites are concentrated on the the Isle of Wight and the mainland opposite (Hampshire etc). The Isle of Wight was settled by Jutes from Denmark Stuf and Wihtgar. The coincidences are too glaring to ignore. I believe all Whites are the descendents of those scandinavian settlers on the Isle of Wight..

Alec McWhitty
john white is right.... white originated from the old norse word....Witta.... originally wecta..... direct descendant of the norse god woden..... it was brought here by the jutes.... which are the scandinavian viking elements of the anglo saxons an they did come from around denmark!!!!! white..... witt.... witta.... originated in scandanavia!!!

Alec McWhitty
thats why u guys say they came from ireland..... vikings had a huge part in the history of ireland even there capital dublin was an old viking settlement

Vince White
Hmmm this is all very interesting. I beleive the Whites are from Hampshire in the main as I am from Hampshire and lots of my family the same. We do have a lot of London connections and indeed Scottish branches too. I think it is a very good theory the Scandanavian angle. I do feel we are from the UK in main and for quite a lot of generations but as you say we came from somewhere first. I shall research this angle my eyes have been opened. :D

Nick Smith
Interesting. My mother's side of the family are Whites(Hampshire).One of them married another White(no relation-I hope!) My father's side are ,for obvious reasons,more difficult to pin down!

Helen Edwards
My Great Grandma was Annie Wilhemina White possibly born in 1873 0r 1880 not sure but married Samuel Boyle in 1901 in West Derby Liverpool.She may have been born in Dublin

Michael White
Traced my White family lineage back to Ireland in the 1840's...but that's as far as I got. No idea how they got to Ireland, or where they lived before they got there.

Louise Ni Mheachair
They more than likely came to Ireland in the 12th century with the Anglo-Normans.

Louise Ni Mheachair
Oops!I worded that badly. What I meant was the surname came to Ireland in the 12th century. As for only being able to trace back to the 1840's, records before the 1829 are rare in Ireland because of the penal laws etc.

Helen Edwards
found out G/G/ grandparents Mathew White born 1836 Ireland and Margaret White born 1842 Ireland had 7 children Also update Annie Wilhemina White G/Grandmother born Seacombe cheshire 1873

Jennifer White de Hernandez
I always heard we were blue blooded from some of my older relatives, they say we are related to the Windsors, but I didn't believe it, after reading this thread, maybe I should look into it. hmmmm, very interesting.

Randy L White
Paul L White is full irishman I part irish in me and White is 50 name ireland and I am pound to be irish and german. And i know some irish and reason I am in irish I eat food on saints patricks day and listen to irish music

Louise Ni Mheachair
For people wondering why they have Irish ancestors with the surname White. The name came to Ireland in the 12th century with the Anglo-Normans. It was originally 'le Whyte'. It became hibernicised to 'de Faoite' as the Normans mixed with the Gaelic('more Irish than the Irish themselves' as the saying goes)and then re anglicised in the 17th century back to 'White'. Hope that helps clear things up. =)

Vince White
Thats funny. I have lots of Scottish relatives breaking into the Whyte. but NO Irish. I think the Irish angle is a bit of a miss turn for most people Whites have been in England & Scotland since 899 as far as I have been able to find out. So far

Louise Ni Mheachair
Yes the name was in England first but it came to Ireland during the Anglo-Norman invasion. That's where the Irish branch of the name comes from. Just for people wondering why Irish relatives have the surname=]That's how it came to the country.

Louise Ni Mheachair
I'm not saying the name is Irish,I was just explaining how an English surname came to Ireland to the people who have traced Irish ancestors with the surname. I've done alot of research on the surname for a project I had to do.

Vince White
I understand. I wasn't trying to offend you in any way. I just have strong evidence that the majority of Whites are primarily from the south of england, home counties and indeed the Isle of Wight.

Betty
My maternal DNA showed ancestry in Great Britain, Sweden and the Ukraine. So much more research to do. Be interesting to know whether or not the Whites are related to the Windsor's. I need to do more research.

Denise White
My name is Denise White. My father is Fredrick White whom was a full blooded Cherokee Indian. Allot of NATIVE AMERICANS have the White last name also because they changed their last names in order to get jobs. Also allot of NATIVE AMERICANS also married Germans, Irish, Scottish and English aslo. My lastname was originaly WHITE CLOUD.

Vince White
Cool :-) !

Vince White
What I do find interesting is the amount of Black american men with the name Vince White. I hope that the name has developed naturally in all areas of society and not just because Whites were slave owners :(( I would say one thing though, I only judge people on the content of their hearts and minds nothing else. But i do hate when a lot of black mainly Americans bang on about their ancestors and slavery. If someone can say, white man took my freedom they must also accept that white man gave them theirs. Also, looking into my own history- my grandfather's mother was a servant - essentially a slave herself.

Beth White
I love all the posts. I'm Beth White, and I live in Tennessee. I've gathered information that my White relatives lived in North Carolina a few centuries ago. I would love to know my heritage. I'm fair complected and assume I'm English, Scottish, or Norse origins. Thanks to all who post comments.

christoper joseph white
My name is christopher white and the white name is from anglo saxon and i live in the south of england Hampshire what was part of Wessex in saxon times

Vince White
Hi Beth. Yes I think it would be safe to assume that most of your relatives are probably of British Isles stock. As most modern Americans. Around 45% of you guys claim to have British blood and thats probably right. Just comparing the place names gives you some idea of how many Brits were in the US, especially in the early days. A lot of you guys might not know that places such as Boston and New York have been named to remember where the people were from. Less so New York (named after the Duke of York) but places such as New England, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Manchester, ect. Also White is one of the most popular names in both England and America and wikipedia (which is far more reliable for information now) says : White is a surname of English origin.[1] It is the sixteenth most common surname in the United Kingdom.[2] In the 1990 United States Census, 'White' ranked fourteenth among all reported surnames in frequency, accounting for 0.28% of the population. The likelihood is your from British primarily English stock a few generations back : ) How bad are your teeth ?

Ben White-Overton
Hi Firstly I must say I find the comments here fascinating and it's very interesting to where other White's have traced their line and backgrounds to. To add mine to the mix I am Ben White-Overton, my father Edward James White-Overton, my grandfather James Edward White-Overton and my great grandfather Edward James White-Overton. I have traced my descendants back to the early 1800's, there has always been a James/Edward White-Overton in the line, the two names must have become double barrelled at some point before then. According to my grandfather our family has always been based in Putney, South West London but my greatgrandfather wore the cap badge of the East Sussex Regiment in WWI which doesn't suggest Putney origin , but then itsn't far off Putney or Hampshire (where it seems most Whites orginated) either. I think seeing as White is the 16th most common name in UK (according to wikipedia), it is little wonder how, somewhere down the line, we can claim relatives of royal blood. I would be really interested if anyone else has more information on this trace. One fact certainly rings true, White a very authentic British name!

Vince White
I don't think we have royal blood Ben to be fair. A lot of my grandad's family were from Fulham and all over London. His mother was a servant :( But who knows ? There are some very famous Whites out there. I have to admit your the first White-Overton I have come across. I assume when names get double barrelled that both sides have strong or high profile standing and neither will back down so form a mix, two big households come together. Someone sent me a link to a book about the Whites from England and all the offshoots, historically. If I find it I shall post it up. Might prove interesting. : ) I know there have been Whites from England since 1066, One thing I notice is how often the same middle names come up, in my mothers side, the Scottish side, there is a tendency to use full names of other relatives as middle names, such as Johnson William for example. Has anyone else come across this ? I'm assuming so links to other names are not lost ? In my grandad's (mother's) side there are lots of people with a middle name BROWN. Now brown is not a forename, it must be a older family name. Now this is interesting as on my father's side, his mother's maiden name is BROWN. So perhaps both sides of my family are distantly related to each other. Also makes me smile the White/Brown mix.

Denise White
Vince slaves took the owners last names.

Vince White
I did say that Denise. I think

Caro Hardy-White
Well all the above is very fascinating. I originally was , but became transfixed with the White family name comments above my Grandads surname. I just know the last couple of generations were based around Manchester.

Carol Hardy-White
In my rush to post I deleted some information. I was originally researching the surname Scott my Grandma's and my name is Carol not Caro!

Denise White
Don't forget the Native Americans also have the last name White. Remember they had to change their last names to get jobs. My father is a full blooded Cherokee and our last name was not orginaly White it was White Cloud but in order to my ancestors to get jobs they had to change their last name from White Cloud to White. I strongly suggest that all of you do some research on your family history especially on the White side allot of you will see their are allot of Native Americans that were in your family.

Aaron E White
I was told that the name "White" was because our ancestors lived by a lake. I must say I'd have much preferred that than it meaning an unblemished baby, or pale Viking.

Vince White
I generally look at Surnames as being of a very organic origin Aaron. Say for example White meaning pale, fair in skin or complexion. Whereas Black and Smith from the job black smith. Shoemaker , Baker , Butcher , ect. Gray being of fair coloured hair. All sorts. RobertSon son of Robert ect ect. And over time they morphed into other names. You have to remember than in the middle ages where our name originated, there were lots of people who couldn't read or write. So many names got added to or taken off of because people didn't in some cases, know how to spell their own name. Sometimes when information must be entered officially they will be asked and agree to the first spelling of a name for example. Whereas it may be different all these avenues make for interesting findings when looking up your trees.

sue
All I know is that my great grandfather's name was John White and he was from England, His wife was black and they had two or three sons, one of which was my grandfather and a daughter. My family is from Louisiana.

John White
I am trying to trace distant relatives, my grandfather was Henry White, whose father was a White (Whyte?) from Dublin who moved to Manchester in the mid 1800's and worked as a boiler-maker in Manchester Docks. He married a Fraser from Paisley and they had nine children one of whom was my grandfather, he in turn married Mary Jane Whalley (from Whalley - Blackburn). We have lost track of any White, Whalley or Fraser relatives and would very much wish to get in touch with any.

gemma white
That is really weird cause my name is Gemma White and i live on Whally RD.(HONESTLY)

Irish to the bone
I just wanna say as a White myself that the name does NOT originate from England but from Wales

NORTHERN Ireland to the core
Irish your wrong. Its from England middle ages but obviously Wales being part of England anyway, it doesn't matter.

christopher joseph white
I live in Portsmouth was born in Gosport Hampshire England I have traced back to 1795 and my family come from Wotton Under Edge .Glous