The surname Whiting is of Saxon origin meaning 'the white or fair offspring'. The Saxon suffix "-ing" denotes 'son of' or 'offspring'. It is a patronymic name from the Old English pre-7th Century 'Hwita' meaning 'the white' or 'fair one'. The surname first appears in documentation from the late 11th Century and has a number of variant forms ranging from 'Whiteing', and 'Whitting' to 'Witting'. However, the name was first found in Devon where it was seated both before and after the Norman Conquest.
In Great Britain, there are an estimated 3,169 with the surname Whiting.
According to the 1990 U.S. Census, Whiting is the 2,565th most popular surname in the United States, carried by 0.005% of the population.
Alan Whiting, British screenwriter
Andrea Whiting, fictional character on the American soap opera Search for Tomorrow
Ant Whiting, writer/producer signed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Arthur Batelle Whiting (1861–1936), American teacher, pianist, composer, and writer on music
Barbara Whiting Smith (1931–2004), American actress
Betty Whiting (1925–1967), American baseball player
Brandon Whiting (born 1976), former American football player
Brendan Whiting 1936–2009, Australian author and researcher
Charles Whiting (1926–2007), British writer and military historian
Charles Whiting (cricketer) (1888–1959), English cricketer
Charlie Whiting (born 1952), FIA Formula One race director
Cliff Whiting (born 1936), New Zealand Maori artist
Danny Whiting, fictional character in BBC soap opera EastEnders
Ed Whiting (1860–?), American professional baseball player
Frederic Whiting (1874–1962), English painter
Gains Whiting (1865–1946), New Zealand trade unionist and political activist
George Whiting (1840–1923), American composer of classical music
George A. Whiting (1884–1943), American vaudeville song and dance man
Henry H. Whiting (born 1923), member of the Supreme Court of Virginia in the 1980s and 90s
Jack Whiting (1894–1975), English cricketer
James Whiting (born 1949), known professionally as Sugar Blue, American blues harmonica player
James R. Whiting (1803–1872), New York judge
Jillian Whiting, Australian news presenter
Jim Whiting (born 1951), British artist and inventor
Justin Rice Whiting (1847–1903), politician from Michigan
John Whiting (1917–1963), John Robert Whiting, English dramatist and critic
John Whiting (anthropologist) (1908–1999), John Wesley Mayhew Whiting, American anthropologist
Justin Rice Whiting (1847–1903), Michigan politician
Ken Whiting (born 1974), Canadian kayaker
Kenneth Whiting (1881–1943), United States Navy officer and American pioneer of naval aviation
Leonard Whiting (born 1950), British actor
Lilian Whiting (1859–1942), American journalist and author
Lorenzo D. Whiting (1819–1889), American politician
Margaret Whiting (1924–2011), American popular music and country music singer
Mark Whiting (born 1964), American writer, director, designer and actor
Michael F. Whiting, American director of the Brigham Young University DNA Sequencing Center
Napoleon Whiting (1910–1984), African-American character actor
Nathan Whiting (1724–1771), soldier and merchant in colonial America
Nathaniel N. Whiting (1792–1872), American Baptist preacher
Norman Whiting (born 1920), English former cricketer
Peter Whiting, New Zealand association football player
Richard Whiting (abbot) (died 1539), last abbot of Glastonbury Abbey before Dissolution of the Monasteries
Richard Whiting (rugby league), English rugby league player
Richard A. Whiting (1891–1938), writer of popular songs, father of Margaret Whiting and Barbara Whiting Smith
Richard H. Whiting (1826–1888), U.S. Representative from Illinois
Robert Whiting (born 1942), American author and journalist
Roy Whiting (born 1959), English murderer of Sarah Payne
Rutherford Lester Whiting (born 1930), Canadian politician
Samuel Whiting, Jr. (1633–1733), First Minister of Billerica, Massachusetts
Sarah Whiting, Dean of the Rice University School of Architecture
Sarah Frances Whiting (1847–1927), American physicist and astronomer
Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting, feminist scholar
Walter Whiting (1888–1952), English cricketer
William Whiting (footballer), English footballer
William Whiting (poet) (1825–1878), English writer and hymnist, wrote the words to Eternal Father, Strong to Save (The Navy Hymn)
William Whiting (politician) (1813–1873), American congressman from Massachusetts
William Whiting II (politician) (1841–1911), U.S. Representative from Massachusetts
William F. Whiting (1864–1936), William Fairfield Whiting, Massachusetts politician, United States Secretary of Commerce 1928–1929
William H. C. Whiting (1824–1865), William Henry Chase Whiting, American Civil War army officers
