Contents [hide]

Whiting History Etymology Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables World Ranking

United States Canada Australia New Zealand West Indies

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Suggested Reading Citations

Whiting History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Etymology of Whiting

What does the name Whiting mean?

The Whiting name is thought to patronymic surname, created from the Old English personal name "Hwit," meaning "the white one."

Early Origins of the Whiting family

The surname Whiting was first found in various counties. Early recorded instances of the name include Roger Witenc, listed 1084 in the Geld Roll (part of the Domesday Book) for Somerset in 1084; Simundus filius Witing, recorded in Danelaw Documents, as being in Lincolnshire in 1150; William Whiting, listed in 1194 in the Curia Regis Rolls for Berkshire; and William Whiting listed in the Pipe Rolls of Buckinghamshire in 1197. 1

A Giffard Whiting held a fee in the parish Catcott, Somerset in c. 1198. Several of the name were listed in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273: Gerin Wyting in Bedfordshire; Felicia Wyting in Cambridgeshre; John Witting in Oxfordshire, Adelina Wyting in Huntingtonshire; and Thomas de Wytin in Nottinghamshire. 2

Early History of the Whiting family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Whiting research. Another 75 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1381, 1391, 1395, 1400, 1428, 1430, 1461, 1483, 1498, 1499, 1500, 1501, 1505, 1536, 1539, 1541, 1633, 1649, 1656, 1658, 1660, 1661, 1666, 1713, 1722 and 1895 are included under the topic Early Whiting History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Whiting Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Whiting, Witing and others.

Early Notables of the Whiting family

Notables of the family at this time include

John Whiting (died after 1430) of Shaftesbury, Dorset, an English Member of Parliament and lawyer. He was Member of Parliament for Shaftesbury in 1391 and later again in 1395
John Whiting Clerk was made the Rectory of Greenstead, near the town of Colchester, Essex, in 1649. Reverend Samuel Whiting, Jr. (1633-1713), was the first minister of Billerica, Massachusetts. He was...
Richard Whiting (1461-1539), was Abbot of Glastonbury, born near Wrington, Somerset. He graduated M.A. at Cambridge in 1483 and D.D. in 1505, and became a monk at Glastonbury (where he may previously...
John Whiting (1656-1722), was an English Quaker, son of John Whiting of Nailsea, near Bristol, where his yeoman ancestors had long owned a small estate. Whiting's father died in 1658. His mother in De...

Whiting World Ranking

In the United States, the name Whiting is the 2,565^th most popular surname with an estimated 12,435 people with that name. 3 However, in Australia, the name Whiting is ranked the 838^th most popular surname with an estimated 4,695 people with that name. 4 And in New Zealand, the name Whiting is the 773^rd popular surname with an estimated 947 people with that name. 5 The United Kingdom ranks Whiting as 753^rd with 8,883 people. 6

Whiting migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Whiting Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Nathaniel Whiting, who arrived in Boston Massachusetts in 1631
William Whiting, who landed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1633 7
Rebecca Whiting, who landed in Virginia in 1634 7
Nathaniel Whiting, who landed in Dedham, Massachusetts in 1635 7
Richard Whiting, who settled in Virginia in 1635
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Whiting Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Leonard Whiting, who arrived in Georgia in 1735 7

Whiting Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

John Whiting, who arrived in Charleston, South Carolina in 1807 7
Henry M Whiting, who arrived in San Francisco, California in 1849 7

Whiting migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Whiting Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

William Whiting, who settled in Newfoundland in 1706 8
Mr. William Whiting U.E. (b. 1759) born in Virginia, USA who settled in Saint John, New Brunswick c. 1784 he died in 1830 9

Whiting Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

James Wolf Whiting, who landed in Canada in 1833

Whiting migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Whiting Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Miss Sarah Whiting, English convict who was convicted in Somerset, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Broxbournebury" in January 1814, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 10
Richard Whiting, English convict from Surrey, who was transported aboard the "Andromeda" on November 13, 1832, settling in New South Wales, Australia 11
Mr. John Whiting, English convict who was convicted in Middlesex, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Emperor Alexander"on 6th April 1833, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 12
Miss Martha Whiting, English Convict who was convicted in Bath, Somerset, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Atwick" on 28 September 1837, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 13
Mr. Richard Whiting, English convict who was convicted in London, England for 15 years, transported aboard the "Canton" on 20th September 1839, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 14
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Whiting migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Whiting Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Mr. Joseph Whiting, British settler arriving as the 1st detachment of Royal New Zealand Fencible Corps travelling from Tilbury, Essex aboard the ship "Ramillies" arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 6th August 1847 15
Mrs. Sarah Whiting, British settler travelling from Tilbury, Essex aboard the ship "Ramillies" arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 6th August 1847 15
Mr. George William Whiting, (b. 1859), aged 6 months, English settler from Putney travelling from London aboard the ship "Zealandia" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 14th November 1859 15
Mr. William Henry Whiting, (b. 1827), aged 32, English domestic servant from Putney travelling from London aboard the ship "Zealandia" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 14th November 1859 15
Mrs. Mary Whiting, (b. 1834), aged 25, English settler from Putney travelling from London aboard the ship "Zealandia" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 14th November 1859 15
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Whiting migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 16

Whiting Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

John Whiting and his son John, who arrived in Barbados in 1678

Contemporary Notables of the name Whiting (post 1700) +

Charlie Whiting (1952-2019), American FIA Formula One Race Director, Safety Delegate, Permanent Starter and head of the F1 Technical Department
Ryan Keith Whiting (b. 1986), American four-time gold medalist shot putter
Richard A. Whiting (1891-1938), American composer
Margaret Whiting (b. 1924), American pop music singer
John Robert Whiting (1917-1963), English actor, dramatist and critic, born in Salisbury
Norman Harry Whiting (1920-2014), English cricketer who played 59 first-class matches for Worcestershire in the late 1940s and early 1950s
William Whiting, English writer and hymnist, best known for his 1860 hymn "Eternal Father, Strong to Save"
William Fairfield Whiting (1864-1936), United States Secretary of Commerce 1928 to 1929
Charles Henry Whiting (1926-2007), British writer and military historian and with some 350 books of fiction and non-fiction to his credit
Dr. Clifford Hamilton "Cliff" Whiting ONZ (1936-2017), New Zealand Maori artist, heritage advocate and teacher

Historic Events for the Whiting family +

SS Newfoundland

Mr. George Lee Whiting (1888-1914), Newfoundlander from Harbour Grace, who on the 30th March 1914 he was part of the Seal Crew of the "SS Newfoundland" leaving the ship to intercept the Stephano which took him to the hunting grounds, he disembarked to begin sealing, but was caught in a thickening storm, attempting to return to the Newfoundland he and the 132 crew made camp for two days the sealers were stranded on the ice in a blizzard attempting to return to the ship, he died during this time

USS Indianapolis

George Albert Whiting (1926-2012), American crew member on board the ship "USS Indianapolis" when she was on a top secret trip for the first nuclear weapon, she was sunk by Japanese Navy on 30th July 1945, he survived the sinking 17

Citations +

Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
"Most Common Last Names in Australia." Forebears, https://forebears.io/australia/surnames
"Most Common Last Names in New Zealand." Forebears, https://forebears.io/new-zealand/surnames
"UK surname ranking." UK Surname map, https://www.surnamemap.eu/unitedkingdom/surnames_ranking.php?p=10
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Seary E.R., Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, Montreal: McGill's-Queen's Universtity Press 1998 ISBN 0-7735-1782-0
Rubincam, Milton. The Old United Empire Loyalists List. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1976. (Originally published as; United Empire Loyalists. The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada. Rose Publishing Company, 1885.) ISBN 0-8063-0331-X
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 3rd November 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/broxbournebury
State Library of Queensland. (Retrieved 2014, November 27) Andromeda voyage to New South Wales, Australia in 1832 with 186 passengers. Retrieved from http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/andromeda/1832
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 11th April 2022). https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/emperor-alexander
Convict Records of Australia. Retreived 23rd August 2020 from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/atwick
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 17th December 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/canton
New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
Final Crew List, retrieved 2021, October 30th Retrieved from https://www.ussindianapolis.com/final-crew