The whitney Surname
whitney Name Meaning and History
English: habitational name from a place in Herefordshire, the
etymology of which is uncertain. The second element is Old English
eg ‘island’, ‘piece of higher ground in a low-lying area’;
the first appears to be hwitan, which is either the genitive
singular of an Old English byname Hwita (meaning ‘white’),
or the weak dative case (originally used after a preposition and
article) of the adjective hwit ‘white’.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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