Whitney Family History

English: habitational name from Whitney in Herefordshire, the etymology of which is uncertain. The second element is Old English ēg ‘island, piece of higher ground in a low-lying area’; the first appears to be hwītan which is either the genitive singular of an Old English byname Hwīta (meaning ‘white’) or the weak dative case (originally used after a preposition and article) of the adjective hwīt ‘white’.

The name may also derive from Whitney (now Whitney Wood) in Stevenage (Hertfordshire), probably named from Old English hwītan ‘white’ + (ge)hæge ‘enclosure’.