The surname White can be of Norman,English,Scottish or Irish origin.The name has three possible origins.The most usual is as a nickname,from the Old English hwit,meaning ‘white’,denoting a person of fair hair or complexion.It was common both before and after the Norman Conquest.It can also from the Old English wiht,denote someone who lived by a bend in a river or road.Lastly ,it can be based on the Old English wait,a ‘look-out post’.The name was brought to Ireland as le White during the Anglo-Norman invasion,and by the fourteenth century it had become numerous in every province.In Scotland and Ireland it has been widely used as a translation of various Gaelic names derived from the elements ‘ban’ white or ‘fionn’ fair.People of Jewish descent have also used the name as an angicization of like sounding Hebrew names.The name dates back to the eighth century in the Old English form were a Hwita,a bishop of Lichfield,is recorded in historical archives.Peregrine White (1620-1704) was born in Cape Cod Harbour on board the Mayflower,thus becoming the first child of English descent to be born in New…
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