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 screenwriterAndrea Whiting, fictional character on the American soap opera Search for TomorrowAnt Whiting, writer/producer signed to Sony/ATV Music PublishingArthur Batelle Whiting (1861–1936), American teacher, pianist, composer, and writer on musicBarbara Whiting Smith (1931–2004), American actressBetty Whiting (1925–1967), American baseball playerBrandon Whiting (born 1976), former American football playerBrendan Whiting 1936–2009, Australian author and researcherCharles Whiting (1926–2007), British writer and military historianCharles Whiting (cricketer) (1888–1959), English cricketerCharlie Whiting (born 1952), FIA Formula One race directorCliff Whiting (born 1936), New Zealand Maori artistDanny Whiting, fictional character in BBC soap opera EastEndersEd Whiting (1860–?), American professional baseball playerFrederic Whiting (1874–1962), English painterGains Whiting (1865–1946), New Zealand trade unionist and political activistGeorge Whiting (1840–1923), American composer of classical musicGeorge A. Whiting (1884–1943), American vaudeville song and dance manHenry H. Whiting (born 1923), member of the Supreme Court of Virginia in the 1980s and 90sJack Whiting (1894–1975), English cricketerJames Whiting (born 1949), known professionally as Sugar Blue, American blues harmonica playerJames R. Whiting (1803–1872), New York judgeJillian Whiting, Australian news presenterJim Whiting (born 1951), British artist and inventorJustin Rice Whiting (1847–1903), politician from MichiganJohn Whiting (1917–1963), John Robert Whiting, English dramatist and criticJohn Whiting (anthropologist) (1908–1999), John Wesley Mayhew Whiting, American anthropologistJustin Rice Whiting (1847–1903), Michigan politicianKen Whiting (born 1974), Canadian kayakerKenneth Whiting (1881–1943), United States Navy officer and American pioneer of naval aviationLeonard Whiting (born 1950), British actorLilian Whiting (1859–1942), American journalist and authorLorenzo D. Whiting (1819–1889), American politicianMargaret Whiting (1924–2011), American popular music and country music singerMark Whiting (born 1964), American writer, director, designer and actorMichael F. Whiting, American director of the Brigham Young University DNA Sequencing CenterNapoleon Whiting (1910–1984), African-American character actorNathan Whiting (1724–1771), soldier and merchant in colonial AmericaNathaniel N. Whiting (1792–1872), American Baptist preacherNorman Whiting (born 1920), English former cricketerPeter Whiting, New Zealand association football playerRichard Whiting (abbot) (died 1539), last abbot of Glastonbury Abbey before Dissolution of the MonasteriesRichard Whiting (rugby league), English rugby league playerRichard A. Whiting (1891–1938), writer of popular songs, father of Margaret Whiting and Barbara Whiting SmithRichard H. Whiting (1826–1888), U.S. Representative from IllinoisRobert Whiting (born 1942), American author and journalistRoy Whiting (born 1959), English murderer of Sarah PayneRutherford Lester Whiting (born 1930), Canadian politicianSamuel Whiting, Jr. (1633–1733), First Minister of Billerica, MassachusettsSarah Whiting, Dean of the Rice University School of ArchitectureSarah Frances Whiting (1847–1927), American physicist and astronomerTracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting, feminist scholarWalter Whiting (1888–1952), English cricketerWilliam Whiting (footballer), English footballerWilliam 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 MassachusettsWilliam Whiting II (politician) (1841–1911), U.S. Representative from MassachusettsWilliam F. Whiting (1864–1936), William Fairfield Whiting, Massachusetts politician, United States Secretary of Commerce 1928–1929William H. C. Whiting (1824–1865), William Henry Chase Whiting, American Civil War army officers