How popular is the baby name Whyte in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Whyte.

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Popularity of the baby name Whyte


Posts that mention the name Whyte

Baby names with WH: Whitney, Wheaton, Whip

whale

Which baby names contain the letter-pair WH?

It’s an uncommon combination, but I’ve tracked down a few dozen options for you in this post!

Before we get to the names, though, let’s learn…

Where did WH- come from in English?

Anglo-Saxons pronounced many words with an initial aspiration (i.e., a brief puff of air before the first consonant). In writing, this aspiration was denoted by the letter H, which can be seen in Old English words like hwæl (“whale”), hlud (“loud”), hnutu (“nut”), and hræfn (“raven”).

After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the ruling class of England spoke Anglo-Norman French. And French-speaking scribes, over time, removed the letter H from the beginning of English words.

In the case of HW-words, they simply transposed the two letters to create WH — a combination that may have reminded them of familiar digraphs like CH, PH, SH, and TH.

The initial aspiration of WH-words is still retained in a handful of Modern English dialects, but has vanished from the others.

Now, on to the names!

Names with WH

Below are names that feature the letter-pair WH. Most of these names come directly from the U.S. SSA’s baby name data.

  • Lawhitney
  • Whalen
  • Whaley
  • Wharton
  • Wheaton
  • Wheelan
  • Wheeler
  • Wheelock
  • Wheelwright
  • Whelan
  • Whelen
  • Whendy
  • Whilma
  • Whip
  • Whiskey
  • Whisper, Whysper
  • Whit, Whitt
  • Whitaker, Whittaker
  • White, Whyte
  • Whitefield
  • Whitelaw
  • Whiteoak
  • Whitfield, Whittfield
  • Whitford
  • Whiting
  • Whitley, Whitlee, Whitleigh, Whitli, Whitlie, Whitlei, Whitly, Whittley
  • Whitman
  • Whitmore
  • Whitnay
  • Whitney, Whitnee, Whitni, Whitnie, Whitnei, Whitny, Whitne, Whitnye, Whittney, Whittni, Whittnie,
  • Whitson
  • Whittany, Whiteny
  • Whitten, Whitton
  • Whyatt
  • Whynter

Some of the above are non-traditional spellings of more common names such as Wendy, Wilma, and Wyatt.

Which of the WH names above to do you like most? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. The digraph DG was similarly invented by medieval French scribes…

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Megaptera novaeangliae (15194165793) by Christopher Michel under CC BY 2.0.

Baby born in England, named after entire soccer team (1992)

soccer game

In 1992, Leeds United F.C. superfans Jeanne and Andrew Cazaux welcomed a baby boy. They named him “Dominic Andrew Lukic Newsome Fairclough Whyte Dorigo McAllister Batty Strachan Speed Chapman Cantona Cazaux” after the following Leeds players:

  • John Lukic
  • Jon Newsome
  • Chris Fairclough
  • Chris Whyte
  • Tony Dorigo
  • Gary McAllister
  • David Batty
  • Gordon Strachan
  • Gary Speed
  • Lee Chapman
  • Eric Cantona

So which team does Dominic root for these days? Arsenal. “I think I chose Arsenal mainly to rebel,” he said. “I was only about eight years old and it was just one of those things you do to go against your parents. They were disappointed but said that it was my choice.”

Dominic isn’t the only person out there named after a soccer team, believe it or not. There are several others, including Jensen Jay Alexander Bikey Carlisle Duff Elliot Fox Iwelumo Marney Mears Paterson Thompson Wallace Preston, who was named after 14 Burnley F.C. players.

Source: So what would you do if your parents named you after the entire Leeds United team?

Image: Adapted from Portugal 2-3 Denmark, Football by José Goulão under CC BY-SA 2.0.