8,360 Global WHITEHURST Family Members

WHITEHURST Family History

This name, with variant spellings Whithurst, Whiteherst etc., is of English topographical origin from residence by a wood with white barked trees. The component elements of the name are the Old English pre 7th Century "hwit", (Medieval English "whit"), meaning "white", plus, "hyrst", a wood or wooded hill. Several English placenames contain "whit" as a first element including Whitehill in Durham and Whitefield, (Lancashire). The predominance of surname recordings in Church Registers of Newport and Shropshire, from the late 16th Century suggest that there may have been a place in Shropshire called Whit(e)hurst.