Whitney
Whitney was the 1046th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 238 babies. Its best year was 1986, when it ranked 32nd with 9,536 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 406 places. More babies were named Whitney in the 1980s than in any other decade.
Meaning white island · English, Old English
Say it WIT-nee /ˈwɪtni/
- Rank in 2025
- #1,046 girls, down 105 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 238girls
- Girls and boys
- 94% girls, 6% boys2021–2025
- Peak year
- 19869,536 babies
- Total since 1880
- 103,657babies recorded
What does the name Whitney mean?
Whitney is an English surname from a place in Herefordshire, from Old English hwītan īege 'at the white island', as Wiktionary notes. Inventor Eli Whitney made the surname well known in the US. As a girls' name Wiktionary notes it became popular in the 1980s and 1990s because of the fame of singer Whitney Houston.
hwīt (Old English, “white”)īeg (Old English, “island”)
How sure is this? Well established.
Related names: Whitley, Witney.
See also: English names, names that mean meadow, hill or valley, names that mean a color, names from places.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Whitney', Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- US Social Security Administration, national baby-name data 1880-2025 (our computation), SSA (public domain)
Nicknames for Whitney
The usual nicknames for Whitney are Whit.
| Nickname | Kind | Rank 2025 | Girls, 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whit · also for Whitley | Traditional | — | — |
Nicknames reviewed by our editors; counts are girls given the nickname as their legal first name. Nobody records how many Whitneys go by each one.
Whitney popularity since 1880
| Year | Rank (girls) | Rank (boys) | Babies (girls) | Babies (boys) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #1,046 | #6,782 | 238 | 13 |
| 2020 | #941 | #7,472 | 273 | 11 |
| 2010 | #544 | #8,104 | 541 | 10 |
| 2000 | #271 | #3,633 | 1,194 | 23 |
| 1990 | #60 | #1,269 | 5,905 | 77 |
| 1980 | #219 | #740 | 1,169 | 141 |
| 1970 | #539 | #904 | 351 | 79 |
| 1960 | #2,194 | #1,081 | 29 | 52 |
| 1950 | #2,776 | #1,073 | 15 | 44 |
| 1940 | #2,955 | #902 | 10 | 50 |
| 1930 | — | #1,020 | — | 46 |
| 1920 | — | #895 | — | 60 |
| 1910 | — | #1,043 | — | 11 |
| 1900 | — | #1,157 | — | 7 |
| 1890 | — | — | — | — |
| 1880 | — | — | — | — |
How popular is Whitney, counting every spelling?
Whitney has no other common spelling that sounds the same. Counting every name's spellings together, it ranks #1,006 for girls in 2025, against #1,046 on the official list.
How many kids will share the name Whitney?
238 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Whitney (0.07 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Whitney born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 35 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Whitney.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Whitney?
About 94,900 people born in the US named Whitney are alive today, with a median age of 37; half are between 32 and 40. That makes Whitney mostly worn by adults in their thirties to fifties.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Whitney by state
How common Whitney was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Massachusetts (2.4×), Minnesota (2.2×), Utah (2.1×), Pennsylvania (1.8×), Missouri (1.7×). In 22 states fewer than five girls a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Whitney: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Whitney, they share its era and feel.
Questions about the name Whitney
What does Whitney mean?
Whitney means “white island” (English, Old English origin). Certainty: well established.
How popular is the name Whitney?
Whitney was the 1046th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 238 babies. Its best year was 1986, when it ranked 32nd with 9,536 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 406 places. More babies were named Whitney in the 1980s than in any other decade.
Is Whitney a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, 94% girls, 6% boys given the name Whitney in the US.
Where is Whitney most popular?
In 2021–2025, Whitney was most common in Massachusetts (0.36 per 1,000 girls), followed by Minnesota and Maine.