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First name origin & meaning:

English: From the white island

First name variations: Whitnee, Whitnie, Whitny, Whittney

Last name origins & meanings:

  1. English: habitational name from a place in Herefordshire, the etymology of which is uncertain. The second element is Old English ēg ‘island’, ‘piece of higher ground in a low-lying area’; the first appears to be hwītan, which is either the genitive singular of an Old English byname Hwīta (meaning ‘white’), or the weak dative case (originally used after a preposition and article) of the adjective hwīt ‘white’.
  2. John Whitney came from London, England, to Watertown, MA, in 1635, and had numerous prominent descendents.

Famous people with this first name: Whitney Houston

This name appears in the following lists: Black History/Civil Rights Leaders, Mountains and Valleys