Whit
A pet name, shortening of Whitman, Whitfield, Whitney, or similar surnames.
Name Census estimates that about 837 living Americans carry the first name Whit. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Whit today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Whit births was 2024 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Whit. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
837
~ 1 in 409,503 Americans
Peak year
2024
71 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,110
Tracked since 1881
Census
Whit in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 922 people with the first name Whit, which placed it at #13,189 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#13,189
National first-name rank
People counted
922
922 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Whit
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Whit is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (5.4%) and Hispanic (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Whit described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Whit at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.0% · 802
- Black or African American5.4% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 27
- Two or more races2.6% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 7
Popularity
Whit: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Whit from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 271 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Whit by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Whit during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Whits live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Kansas, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Whit, while Nebraska, North Carolina, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Whit
The name Whit has its origins in the Old English language, where it was derived from the word "hwit," which means "white" or "bright." This name was commonly used in Anglo-Saxon England, particularly during the medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Whit can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and inhabitants commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this historical record, there are several entries of individuals with the name Whit or variations of it, such as Whitman and Whitlock.
The name Whit has been associated with several notable figures throughout history. One of the earliest examples is Whit of Rouen, a 12th-century Norman poet and trouvère who composed chansons and lyric poetry. Another historical figure was Whit Bickley, an English Protestant martyr who was burned at the stake in 1555 during the Marian Persecutions under the reign of Queen Mary I.
In the 17th century, Whit Wharton was a prominent English lawyer and politician who served as the Solicitor General for England and Wales from 1675 to 1676. Later, in the 18th century, Whit Masterson was an Irish soldier and adventurer who fought in various military campaigns across Europe.
Moving into the 19th century, Whit Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist, best known for his collection "Leaves of Grass." Born in 1819 and often referred to as the "father of free verse," Whitman's work profoundly influenced American literature and poetry.
While the name Whit has been used throughout history, it has also been adopted as a nickname or shortened form of other names, such as Whitney, Whitfield, and Whitaker. Regardless of its various forms and usages, the name Whit continues to carry a connection to its Old English roots, reflecting a sense of brightness and purity.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Whit
People
Whit + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Whit as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Whit: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Whit?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 837 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Whit going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 409,503 US residents.
Is Whit a common name?
We classify Whit as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,208 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Whit most popular?
The single biggest year for Whit was 2024, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Whit is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Whit in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 922 people with the name Whit, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,189 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Whit in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Whit?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Whit leans strongly male. 837 people counted with this name were male (90.4%), compared with 89 female bearers (9.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Whit?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Whit is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (5.4%) and Hispanic (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Whit most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Whit in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (802 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Whit in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Whit a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Whit in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Whit still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Whit in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Whit can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Whit?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.