Whyte Reunion Tribute T Shirts
Order is in Here is the design. Actual date is 1106
Brother John and Margot have a friend that has done a
lot of research on our Whyte family background and they are going to do
a presentation at the reunion. As for the 1650 date the actual date on
the Tshirts will be 1106 as that is the first time our specific spelling
shows up or at least that I could find check the following link
This name, with variant spellings White, Whitt, Whyte, Witt(e) and Witts, has two possible origins; the first deriving from the Olde English pre 7th Century "hwit(a)" meaning white and originally given as a nickname to one with fair hair or pale complexion. The surname from this source is first recorded in the early half of the 11th Century (see below). One Alestanus Hwit appears in the 1066 Winton Rolls of Hampshire, and an Alwin Wit in the Domesday Book of 1086 for Hampshire. Berwaldus le White is recorded in the 12th Century "Documents of the Danelaw", London. A second distinct possibility is that the name is topographic for one who lived by a bend or curve in a road or river. The derivation is from the Olde English "wiht", a bend. Ralf de Wyte and Jon Atte Wyte are recorded in Somerset and Sussex in 1279 and 1296 respectively. One William Whyte married Janet Pringle on February 21st 1650 at Edinburgh, Midlothian, in Scotland. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thurcil Hwita, which was dated 1038, in the "Old English Byname Register for Herefordshire", during the reign of King Harold 1, known as "Harefoot", 1035 - 1040. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
This following Coat of Arms and the Whyte write up is courtesy of Jim
Whyte
From the historical and enchanting region of Scotland
emerged a multitude of noble families, including the distinguished Whyte
family. Originally, the Scottish people were known only by a single
name. Scottish surnames evolved during the Middle Ages when people
began
to assume an extra name to avoid confusion and to further identify
themselves. Often they adopted names that were derived from
nicknames. Nickname surnames were derived from an eke-name, or added
name. They usually reflected the physical characteristics or attributes
of the first person that used the name. The name Whyte is a nickname
type
of surname for a pale or fair haired person. Further research revealed
that the name is derived from the Old English word "hwit," meaning
"white." Though shrouded by the mists of time, the early
records of Scotland reveal that the name Whyte is of Norman origin,
introduced
to the region after the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century.
The history of the name has since become interwoven with the colourful
plaid of
Scottish history and is now an intrinsic part of the heritage of
Scotland.
Professional historians consulted such ancient
manuscripts as the Domesday Book (compiled in 1086 by William the
Conqueror),
tax records, baptismals, family genealogies, and local parish and church
records in search of early records of the name. Whyte was first found
in
Coldingham, where "Uuiaett Hwite" witnessed King Eadgar's charter of
Coldingham sometime between the years 1097 and 1107. It appears the
name
may have actually predated the Norman invasion as Old English personal
names
such as "Huita, Huuita, Hwita" are know to have predated 1066.
One Old English charter dated before 925 (the Cartularium Saxonica),
there is a
"Wulfnoo hwita" listed. Whyte was also used as an Anglicized
form of the Gaelic MacGhillebhain. By the mid 12th century, however,
most
of the bearers of this name in Scotland were of Norman descent. They
held
a family seat from very early times.
Many alternate spellings of the name occured in the
manuscripts researched. Your name, Whyte, was found in many references,
but the records also included variations such as White, Whyte, Wight,
and
others. Scribes recorded and spelled the name as it sounded, so it was
not unlikely, for a person to be born with one spelling, married with
another,
and buried with yet another written on his or her headstone.
The Normans were descended from the Vikings that
raided Northern France in the late 9th and early 10th centuries. The
French King, Charles the Simple, achieved peace in 911 by creating the
Duchy of
Normancy, named after the Norsemen, and granting it to Rollo, their
chief, who
ruled as a vassal of the French King. However, rather than transforming
that portion of France into another Scandinavia the Viking settlers
adopted the
culture of the natives and merged with them.. So though they had Viking
roots,
it was French speaking, Christian people that invaded England, and not
Norsemen.
From England the Normans spread north to Scotland.
The Scottish King, Malcolm Canmore was established as a vassal of
William's and
Norman influence gradually worked its way into Scotland. In 1128, the
Earl of Huntingdon, who later became King David I of Scotland, invited
his
noble Norman friends to the north to strengthen his royal court,
granting them
larger estates than they had in England. Having spent part of his youth
at the English court, King David was particularly influenced by the
Normans and
adopted many of their institutions and ideas.
The surname Whyte emerged as a notable Scottish family
name in the country of Coldingham. Most of the bearers of this name in
Scotland were originally of the noble family of Le Blancs in Normandy,
and
moved gradually northward into Scotland from England. Early records of
this family in Scotland include: Gilbert Qwhyt, who was bailie of the
burg of
Rutherglen in 1376, Thomas White, who held lands in Irvine in 1426, and
Robert
Whytte, who was the first provost, in 1658, of Kirkekaldie. John Whyte
completed the great hall of St. Andrews in 1236. Bearers of the family
name also settled in Fife and Perth and were seated at Maw and
Lumbenny.
Notable among the family at this time was Robert Whytte, first provost
of
Kirkekaldie.
People began to leave Scotland to escape political
problems and economic hardship. There was much emigration to Ireland
where land was confiscated from the Catholic Irish and given to English
and
Scottish settlers for political reasons. The Whyte family was among
these
Scottish migrants to Ireland, settling mainly in counties Down, Dublin,
Wexford
and Longford.
The New World beckoned next and though many went from
Ireland, most came directly from Scotland. They sailed aboard the fleet
of sailing ships known as the "White Sails." The stormy
Atlantic, small pox, dysentery, cholera and typhoid took its toll on the
settlers and many of the overcrowded ships arrived with only 60 or 70%
of their
passenger list.
In North America, immigrants bearing the family name
Whyte, or a spelling variation of the name, included William White and
his wife
Susannah, who immigrated to Plymouth in 1620 with their sons Resolve and
Peregrine (who was born in Cape Cod Harbour on board the Mayflower in
1620;
thus becoming the first child of English descent born in New England),
William
White, who came to Virginia in 1635; Peter White, who settled in Witless
Bay,
Newfoundland in 1676; Amos White, who immigrated to Boston,
Massachusetts in
1679; Arthur White, who arrived in Ferryland in 1706; Mary White, who
settled
in Nova Scotia in 1774; and Margaret White, who came to Quebec in 1829.
From their ports of arrival, many North American
settlers joined the wagon trains westward.
Contemporary notables of this surname include
distinguished people such as E.B. White (1899-1985), American essayist,
humorist, and author of children's books; Reverend Ian White, Dean of
Canterbury.
The Motto for the Coat of Arms translates as: Acquired
by work.
