Explore the Family Name Whiffen

The meaning of Whiffen

English: variant of Wiffen, which is unexplained. It is certain that this name originally had initial W- rather than Wh- (e.g. William Wyffyng 1318, Thomas Wyffyn 1377), which would rule out a habitational or topographic explanation from a place called with Middle English whit ‘white’ + fen ‘fen, marsh’. Wiffen might alternatively be a nickname from Middle English wif-thing ‘sexual intercourse, wedding’, which is supported by the -ng in earliest spellings.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Whiffen in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Whiffen has seen a slight change in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 55,376 and rose to 55,841 in 2010, representing a small decrease in rank of -0.84%. The count of individuals with this surname increased by 5.76% from 347 to 367 over the same period. However, the proportion of individuals with this name per 100,000 decreased by -7.69%, from 0.13 in 2000 to 0.12 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#55,376	#55,841	-0.84%
Count	347	367	5.76%
Proportion per 100k	0.13	0.12	-7.69%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Whiffen

In terms of ethnic identity, the majority of people with the surname Whiffen identified as White in both 2000 and 2010, reaching up to 98.09% in 2010, an increase of 1.30% from 2000. According to the Decennial U.S. Census data, there were no individuals who identified as Hispanic, Two or More Races, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either census year. There was a small percentage (1.44%) of individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander in 2000, but this number dropped to zero by 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.83%	98.09%	1.3%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.44%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%