whiting

Whiting is the name of several species of fish:

• Merlangius merlangus, the original species to receive the name; a common food fish of the cod family found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean around Europe and the Mediterranean regions
• Whiting (fish), various other fish species in North America, Australia and throughout the Indo-Pacific region

Whiting may also refer to:

• Powdered and washed white chalk (calcium carbonate), used in putty, metal polish, whitewash and sometimes added to paint to improve the paint's opacity

Places

In the United States of America:

• Whiting, Indiana
• Whiting, Iowa
• Whiting, Kansas
• Whiting, Maine
• Whiting, Missouri
• Whiting, New Jersey
• Whiting, Vermont
• Whiting, Wisconsin
• NAS Whiting Field, FL

In the United Kingdom:

• Whiting Bay Isle of Arran, Scotland

Origins as a Surname

The surname Whiting is of Saxon origin meaning "the white or fair offspring"^[1]. The Saxon suffix "-ing" denots 'son of' or 'offspring'. It is a patronymic name from the Old English pre 7th Century "Hwita" meaning "the white one". The surname first appears in the late 11th Century and has a number of variant forms ranging from 'Whiteing', and 'Whitting' to 'Witting'.^[2]. The name was first found in Devon where it was seated both before and after the Norman Conquest^[3].

Surname

According to the 1990 U.S. Census, Whiting is the 2565th most popular surname in the United States, carried by 0.005% of the population.

• Charlie Whiting, FIA Formula One race director
• Cliff Whiting, New Zealand Maori artist
• Danny Whiting, fictional character in BBC soap opera EastEnders
• E.M. Whiting, captain of the USS Massachusetts (BB-54) in the 1920s
• John Whiting (1917-1963), John Robert Whiting, English dramatist and critic
• John Whiting (anthropologist) (1908-1999), John Wesley Mayhew Whiting, an American anthropologist
• Justin Rice Whiting (1847-1903), Michigan politician
• Leonard Whiting (b. 1950), British actor
• Margaret Whiting (b. 1924), traditional pop music singer, daughter of Richard A. Whiting
• Margaret Whiting (actress), British actress
• Napoleon Whiting (1910-1984), African-American character actor
• Nathan Whiting (1724-1771), soldier and merchant in colonial America
• Richard Whiting (1500s), last abbot of Glastonbury Abbey before Dissolution of the Monasteries
• Richard A. Whiting (1891-1938), writer of popular songs, father of Margaret Whiting and Barbara Whiting Smith
• William Whiting (1825 – 1878), English writer and hymnist, wrote the words to Eternal Father, Strong to Save (The Navy Hymn)
• William Whiting (politician) (1813-1873), Massachusetts
• William Whiting II (politician) (1841-1911), Massachusetts
• William F. Whiting (1864-1936), William Fairfield Whiting, Massachusetts politician
• William H. C. Whiting (1824-1865), William Henry Chase Whiting, American Civil War army officers

Other

• Whiting Writers' Award
• The Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering

Notes

1. ^ http://www.searchforancestors.com/surnames/origin/w/whiting.php
2. ^ http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?name=Whiting
3. ^ http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx/whiting-family-crest.htm

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