Whittaker
A variant of the English surname derived from an occupational name for a maker of white goods.
Name Census estimates that about 306 living Americans carry the first name Whittaker. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Whittaker today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Whittaker births was 2020 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Whittaker. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Whittaker with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
306
~ 1 in 1,120,112 Americans
Peak year
2020
27 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,298
Tracked since 2002
Census
Whittaker in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 273 people with the first name Whittaker, which placed it at #31,391 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
#31,391
National first-name rank
People counted
273
273 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Whittaker
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Whittaker is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.1%) and Black (6.6%). 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 Whittaker 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 Whittaker at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.6% · 220
- Two or more races8.1% · 22
- Black or African American6.6% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
Popularity
Whittaker: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Whittaker from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 157 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Whittaker remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Whittaker 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 Whittaker during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Whittakers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Whittaker
The given name Whittaker has its origins in the Old English language, tracing back to the Anglo-Saxon period in the 5th to 11th centuries. It is derived from the compound words "hwit," meaning white, and "tacker" or "tæccan," referring to a maker or one who prepares something. Thus, the name Whittaker originally referred to a person who worked with white or undyed cloth, possibly a weaver or a fuller who prepared and finished woven fabrics.
The earliest recorded use of the name Whittaker can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086 to record land ownership and taxation across England and parts of Wales. This suggests that the name was already in use by the late 11th century, likely among the Anglo-Saxon population.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Whittaker remained in use, predominantly in the northern regions of England, where the wool and textile industries were particularly prominent. Its popularity may have been influenced by the significance of these trades in the local economies.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Whittaker was John Whittaker, a 14th-century English Catholic priest and theologian who served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1361 to 1372. His scholarly works contributed to the intellectual and religious discourse of the time.
In the 16th century, the name gained further prominence with the emergence of Sir Richard Whittaker (c.1510-1570), a Member of Parliament and landowner from Yorkshire. He played a role in the English Reformation and was known for his support of Protestant causes.
Another notable figure was the English mathematician and astronomer John Whittaker (1710-1775), who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the calculation of planetary orbits.
In the 19th century, the name was borne by the British poet and translator William Garrett Whittaker (1809-1892), who is best known for his translations of works by Horace and his contributions to the study of classical literature.
The 20th century saw the rise of the British mathematician and physicist Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker (1873-1956), whose groundbreaking work in mathematical physics and numerical analysis earned him widespread recognition and numerous honors, including the Royal Medal and the Copley Medal.
These examples illustrate the diverse fields in which individuals named Whittaker have made their mark throughout history, ranging from religious scholars and politicians to scientists and literary figures. While the name's origins are rooted in the textile industry, its bearers have left their imprints across various disciplines and eras.
People
Whittaker + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Whittaker 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
Whittaker: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Whittaker?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 306 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Whittaker 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 1,120,112 US residents.
Is Whittaker a common name?
We classify Whittaker as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 308 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Whittaker most popular?
The single biggest year for Whittaker was 2020, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Whittaker is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Whittaker in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 273 people with the name Whittaker, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,391 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 Whittaker 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 Whittaker?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Whittaker leans strongly male. 256 people counted with this name were male (95.2%), compared with 13 female bearers (4.8%). 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 Whittaker?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Whittaker is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.1%) and Black (6.6%). 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 Whittaker most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Whittaker in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.6% (220 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 Whittaker in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Whittaker a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Whittaker 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 Whittaker still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Whittaker 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 Whittaker 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 share the name Whittaker?
Want to know how many people have the name Whittaker? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.