Whitford
The meaning is a combination of two words from Old English: white and ford.
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Whitford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Whitford today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Whitford births was 1923 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Whitford. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Whitford. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1923
5 babies that year
Average age
-
1923 SSA rank
#4,876
Tracked since 1923
Popularity
Whitford: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Whitford 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 Whitford during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Whitford
The name Whitford is of English origin and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "hwit" meaning "white" and "ford" meaning "a shallow place where a river or stream can be crossed." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near a white ford or a shallow crossing point over a river.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Whitford date back to the late 12th century in various English parish records and census rolls. One of the first documented individuals with this name was Reginald de Whitford, who was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Norfolk in 1198.
In the 13th century, Brother Richard Whitford, an English Benedictine monk and writer, was a notable figure. He was born around 1471 in Gloucestershire and is best known for his religious works, including "A Werke for Householders" and "The Martiloge in Englysshe."
During the 16th century, John Whitford, a Catholic martyr, was executed in 1592 for his faith during the Elizabethan persecutions of Catholics in England.
In the 17th century, Robert Whitford (1619-1685) was an English clergyman and author who wrote several theological works, including "A Vindication of the Reformers of the Church of England."
Moving into the 18th century, William Whitford (1717-1788) was a noted English landscape painter and etcher, known for his etchings of rural scenes and architectural subjects.
One of the more prominent individuals with the name Whitford was Sir Samuel Whitford (1834-1910), a British civil engineer and contractor. He was responsible for building many notable structures, including the Aswan Low Dam on the Nile River in Egypt.
While the name Whitford is not as common today as it once was, it has left an indelible mark on history, spanning various fields such as religion, literature, art, and engineering.
People
Whitford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Whitford 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
Whitford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Whitford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Whitford 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 - US residents.
Is Whitford a common name?
We classify Whitford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Whitford most popular?
The single biggest year for Whitford was 1923, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Whitford is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Whitford in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Whitford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Whitford 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 Whitford still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Whitford 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 Whitford 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Whitford?
Want to know how many Americans are named Whitford? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.