Whitnall Family History

From one or more of the following small places: Whitnal in Whitchurch (Hants), Whitnell in Fiddington (Somerset), Whitnell in Emborough (Somerset), Whitehill Wood in North Leigh (Oxon; Witenhull in 1279), or Witnells End in Upper Arley (Worcs; Whytenhull in 1295). The Oxon and Worcs place-names as well as Whitnell in Emborough (Somerset) derive from the Old English personal name Hwīta (genitive Hwītan) or Old English hwīt ‘white’ (dative hwītan) + hylle ‘hill’.

The etymology of Whitnell in Fiddington (Somerset) is uncertain due to a lack of medieval forms. The Hants place-name is recorded as on hwitan leas heal and þurh hwitan leashal in medieval documents; its origin is uncertain but it may derive from an earlier place-name *Hwītanlēa ‘at the white woodland’ (from Old English hwīt ‘white’ + lēah ‘wood woodland clearing’; dative hwītan + lēa) in the genitive *Hwītanlēas + Old English halh ‘nook corner of land’.