Whitener
An occupational surname for a whitener or bleacher of cloth, especially linen.
The #7,481 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 69,334 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Whitener is an occupational surname built from the English word "white" plus an agent ending, and it refers to someone who whitened cloth, especially by bleaching linen. Historical surname writers connect it with older forms such as "whitster," a term used for a bleacher or linen whitener. The name is therefore parallel in sense to surnames like Bleeker or Bleacher.
History
The surname appears to be an English occupational name that later spread in English-speaking countries, especially the United States. Nineteenth-century surname scholars treated it as a straightforward occupational label rather than a place-name or nickname. Modern American usage may also include some adoption or alteration from related surnames built on the same trade meaning.
Origin
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Fun fact
Old surname books often grouped Whitener with foreign-looking forms like Dutch Bleecker and Witter because all of them pointed to the same trade: bleaching linen.
From the historical record
“The Promptorium malies ' bleykester' and ' whytster' synonjanous, and explains them by cand'uJarius, a whitener or bleacher of linen, which is doubtless the meaning of this surname. Blncre, apparently used as a baptismal name, is found in Domesd. The 131ackers of co. Armagh, derive them- selves traditionally from…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom