Whitt
A short surname that likely began as a nickname or place-based name, and may be connected to an old word for white or a white-haired person.
The #2,092 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 17,854 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is probably a shortened form of an older English name based on "white," used either as a nickname for someone fair-haired or pale, or as part of a local place-name form. The evidence in the old surname dictionaries is not fully secure, and the name may also be related to longer forms such as Truwhitt in some cases. In general, the root sense is simply "white" or "bright."
History
Bardsley notes forms of the name in medieval records and suggests that some examples had disappeared in England but survived in America. Later surname compilers treat Whitt as a shortened surname form rather than a large, widespread main line of its own. Today it is relatively uncommon in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The old surname literature sometimes links Whitt with longer forms that look quite different today, showing how much surnames could be shortened over time.
From the historical record
“ing to have died out in England, being found on American 90S. 'The mardene, whitt aa Icly-floare, MS. i^jnco'n A™i' 17,". to7 (lUlliwell). Robeildrl Kemnrlcca. Hunli, T179. A. Robert de la Kiinele, co. Hunti, » Edw.I, R. New York, o, I ; Philadelphia, o. a.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances