Explore the Family Name Whigham

The meaning of Whigham

Scottish and English: unexplained. Forms with W- appear earlier than those with Wh-, suggesting a connection with Wickham, but since there are also early bearers in County Durham, it may be for Whickham, from the place of that name there. Alternatively, Whigham may be from an unidentified place in the Scottish Borders.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Whigham has seen slight changes in its popularity over the years. In 2000, it was ranked 11,937th and increased to 12,384th by 2010, a decrease in rank of 3.74%. During the same decade, the count of individuals bearing the Whigham surname went up by 4.62%, from 2,401 to 2,512. However, when considering the proportion per 100k people, there was a slight decrease of 4.49%, from 0.89 to 0.85.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#11,937	#12,384	-3.74%
Count	2,401	2,512	4.62%
Proportion per 100k	0.89	0.85	-4.49%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Whigham

In terms of ethnic identity, data from the Decennial U.S. Census indicates that the Whigham surname saw varying changes between different ethnic groups between 2000 and 2010. The largest increase was seen among those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, which went up by 242.86%, although they still make up a small percentage of those with the Whigham surname. Those identifying as two or more races also saw an increase of 52.74%. Meanwhile, the proportion of White and Hispanic individuals decreased by 4.06% and 14.20% respectively. Those identifying as Black had a slight increase of 2.60%, while American Indian and Alaskan Native also increased by 28.00%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	54.48%	52.27%	-4.06%
Black	41.98%	43.07%	2.6%
Two or More Races	1.46%	2.23%	52.74%
Hispanic	1.62%	1.39%	-14.2%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.21%	0.72%	242.86%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.25%	0.32%	28%