Whitfield
From a white meadow or field.
Name Census estimates that about 177 living Americans carry the first name Whitfield. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Whitfield today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Whitfield births was 1919 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Whitfield. 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
177
~ 1 in 1,936,465 Americans
Peak year
1919
18 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,794
Tracked since 1890
Census
Whitfield in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 326 people with the first name Whitfield, which placed it at #27,839 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
#27,839
National first-name rank
People counted
326
326 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Whitfield
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Whitfield is White at 49.4%. The next largest groups are Black (43.9%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Whitfield 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 Whitfield at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.4% · 161
- Black or African American43.9% · 143
- Two or more races4.3% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Whitfield: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Whitfield from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 117 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Whitfield 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 Whitfield during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Whitfield
The given name Whitfield is an English name that originated in the late Middle Ages, around the 13th or 14th century. It is derived from the Old English words "hwit" meaning "white" and "feld" meaning "field," suggesting a connection to a person who lived near or owned a white field.
In early English history, the name was likely used as a descriptive surname to identify individuals based on their occupation or residence near a particular white field. Over time, it transitioned into a given name, though its origins can be traced back to these Old English roots.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Whitfield dates back to the 13th century, when it appeared in the Pipe Rolls of Warwickshire, England, in reference to a person named Whitfield de Whitfield. This early record highlights the name's use as a surname derived from a location.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Whitfield. One of the most famous was George Whitfield (1714-1770), an English Anglican cleric known for his influential role in the Methodist movement and his powerful preaching during the Great Awakening. His impact on the religious landscape of colonial America was significant.
Another prominent figure was Whitfield Jack Auld (1894-1965), an American baseball pitcher who played in the major leagues for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators in the 1920s. He was a part of the Athletics' World Series championship team in 1929.
In the realm of literature, Whitfield Cook (1949-2003) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist, known for his works exploring the experiences of African Americans in the rural South. His novel "The Woven Wind" received critical acclaim.
In the field of education, Whitfield J. Bell Jr. (1914-2005) was an American educator and civil rights activist who served as the first African American superintendent of schools in Bogalusa, Louisiana, in the 1960s, playing a pivotal role in desegregating the school system.
Lastly, Whitfield Diffie (born 1944) is an American cryptographer and one of the pioneers of public-key cryptography. He co-authored the groundbreaking Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol, a cornerstone of modern secure communications.
While the name Whitfield has its roots in Old English and was originally a descriptive surname, it has evolved into a given name with a rich history, borne by notable individuals across various fields, from religion and sports to literature, education, and technology.
People
Whitfield + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Whitfield 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
Whitfield: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Whitfield?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 177 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Whitfield 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 1,936,465 US residents.
Is Whitfield a common name?
We classify Whitfield as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 434 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Whitfield most popular?
The single biggest year for Whitfield was 1919, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Whitfield is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Whitfield in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 326 people with the name Whitfield, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,839 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 Whitfield 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 Whitfield?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Whitfield leans strongly male. 316 people counted with this name were male (96.6%), compared with 11 female bearers (3.4%). 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 Whitfield?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Whitfield is White at 49.4%. The next largest groups are Black (43.9%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Whitfield most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Whitfield in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.4% (161 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 Whitfield in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Whitfield a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Whitfield 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 Whitfield still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Whitfield 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 Whitfield 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 have the name Whitfield?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.