Explore the Family Name Whitehair

The meaning of Whitehair

1. English: variant of Whittier altered by folk etymology. 2. Americanized form (translation into English) of German Weishaar. 3. Native American (also White Hair): translation into English of a personal name such as Navajo Bitsii’ Łigáii (literally ‘His White Hair’), based on bitsii’ ‘his hair’ and łigái ‘white’.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Whitehair has seen a subtle change between 2000 and 2010. In terms of rank, the surname moved from 18,077 in 2000 to 17,551 in 2010, indicating an increase in popularity by 2.91%. The count of people with the Whitehair surname also increased by 12.73%, from 1,422 in 2000 to 1,603 in 2010. The proportion per 100,000 people slightly increased by 1.89%, showing that the surname is becoming more common.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#18,077	#17,551	2.91%
Count	1,422	1,603	12.73%
Proportion per 100k	0.53	0.54	1.89%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Whitehair

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Whitehair saw some shifts from 2000 to 2010, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. While the majority identified as White (76.67% in 2010), there was a slight decrease from 79.54% in 2000. There was a notable increase in those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native, from 16.88% in 2000 to 19.59% in 2010. There were also new identifications of Asian/Pacific Islander and Black ethnicities in 2010 that were not present in 2000. However, those identifying with two or more races decreased by 29.59%, and the Hispanic ethnicity decreased by 15.48%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	79.54%	76.67%	-3.61%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	16.88%	19.59%	16.05%
Hispanic	1.55%	1.31%	-15.48%
Two or More Races	1.69%	1.19%	-29.59%
Black	0%	0.87%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.37%	0%