Willhite
An English surname most likely built from the given name Will, with the ending -hite reflecting a later spelling variant rather than a separate root.
The #8,805 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 83,018 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Willhite is generally understood as a variant spelling of a surname built on the pet form Will, short for William. The second element is likely a spelling development or dialectal reshaping of an older ending rather than a distinct word with its own meaning. In practice, the name is usually treated as an English family name that began as a personal-name-based identifier.
History
The surname is found mainly in the English-speaking world, especially in the United States, where spellings with -hite and related forms became fixed in some families. As with many patronymic surnames, different branches may have standardized the name in different ways over time. The modern distribution is likely the result of immigration, regional spelling variation, and recordkeeping rather than a single original spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Modern Willhite and Wilhite families are often related in records, because clerks and descendants sometimes swapped the initial vowels and consonants while the name was being standardized.