The Whiteside surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 11,334 people carried this name — #3,191 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 26,000 people counted. That is up 3% from 10,981 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Whiteside surname

A habitational surname from Old English.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Whiteside» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

As an English and Welsh surname

Bardsley classes it as a local name, from where the family lived: ‘at the white side’.

An early record he cites: Willelmus Whitesyde, 1379 — Poll Tax, West Riding of Yorkshire.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 808 · public domain.

In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890

Ireland registered 18 births for the Whiteside name in 1890.

Most were registered in Ulster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 800 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they were born, 1890

Ulster 16
Leinster 1
Munster 1

Registrar-General for Ireland, «Special Report on Surnames in Ireland» (R. E. Matheson, 1894), births index of 1890 — public domain.

Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s

Whiteside was found among the farmers of Lancashire: 22 in every 10,000.

Guppy counted the farmers listed in each county’s directory and recorded a name only where it reached about 7 in every 10,000; where it does not appear, it was rarer than that, not absent.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Per 10,000 farmers, by county

Lancashire 22

H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), alphabetical list of English and Welsh names — public domain · farmers in Kelly’s Post Office Directories of the 1880s, per 10,000 farmers in each county.

In Scotland’s registers today

Whiteside was recorded 13 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 1564th most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 11. Each birth counts the child’s surname, each marriage both partners’ and each death the surname of the person who died — a yearly count of registrations, not of the people who live in Scotland.

National Records of Scotland, «Most Common Surnames, 2025» (published 26 May 2026): every surname recorded 10 or more times in the 2025 registers, and the series from 1975 · different spellings are counted separately — © Crown copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

36 families named Whiteside, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 204 people lived in those households, 5.7 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 3 other spellings. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Pennsylvania 16
South Carolina 8
North Carolina 7
New York 5

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 268 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Whiteside in American newspapers,
1899.

Newspaper page from The Anaconda Standard carrying the name Whiteside
The Anaconda Standard 1899-02-03
Newspaper page from The Anaconda Standard carrying the name Whiteside
The Anaconda Standard 1899-12-24
Newspaper page from The Anaconda Standard carrying the name Whiteside
The Anaconda Standard 1899-01-11

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 73,229 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Whiteside in Australian newspapers,
1830s–2000s.

10,366 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Whiteside. The most, 1,788, date from the 1950s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in Victoria, at 1.9 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

Victoria 4,264
New South Wales 2,362
Queensland 1,966
Tasmania 696
Western Australia 607
South Australia 399
ACT (Canberra) 60
Northern Territory 2

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Whiteside.

Who carried it

People named Whiteside,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Samuel Whiteside
    Samuel Whiteside 1783–1866 · politician
  • Maria Charlotte Exmouth Barlow d. 1927
  • Jenkin Whiteside 1772–1822 · politician
  • James Anderson Whiteside 1803–1861
  • James Whiteside 1804–1876 · judge
  • Ninian E. Whiteside 1812–1876 · politician

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Whiteside,
in the records of 6 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States1,121 records

1,121 records of the Whiteside name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 365
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 202
  • Other U.S. records 554
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Joseph E. Whiteside

    Born 1932; from Jefferson County, Kentucky. U.S. Army, combat construction specialist; killed in action 1951 in South Korea. Buried at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Kentucky.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Henry E. Whiteside

    Born 1903 in Tennessee. Enlisted 1942 at Cincinnati, Ohio; printing worker from Montgomery County, Ohio. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1966, buried at Dayton National Cemetery, Ohio.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record James Whiteside

    Arrived at New York in 1892 aboard the Anchoria from Glasgow, aged 25; clerk. From Tyrone, Ireland; bound for Philadelphia.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 1,121 records for Whiteside in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · City of Asheville (public domain, PDDL) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Australia394 records

394 records of the Whiteside name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 211
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 106
  • Other Australian records 77
  1. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record Jean Whiteside

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Hector, sailing from Woolwich in 1835. Native of Glasgow, Lanarkshire.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record John Whiteside

    Arrived in Victoria in 1852 aboard the Fanny, aged 28; English.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Edward Whiteside

    Builder of Balwyn North, Victoria; died 1972.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 394 records for Whiteside in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour, with the convicts going on board, etching by Edward William Cooke, 1829, Royal Museums Greenwich (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain).

Canada73 records

73 records of the Whiteside name in Canada
  • Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 20
  • City of Winnipeg cemetery records 17
  • Other Canadian records 36
  1. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Stanley Whiteside

    Died 1972, aged 54; buried at St. Vital Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

    City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg.
  2. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record Thomas H. Whiteside

    Died 1931 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.
  3. A Canadian First World War grave register card for a soldier who died of wounds in 1917
    Example: Canadian war grave register, 1917
    War record Edwin Ernest Whiteside

    Died in service in 1941.

    Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada.

Showing 3 of 73 records for Whiteside in Canada.

Counts: City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0); Canadian First World War circumstances-of-death register (scan by Scottgraham87 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).

New Zealand29 records

29 records of the Whiteside name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 28
  • Thames-Coromandel District cemetery records 1
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record George Frederick Whiteside

    Died 1936, aged 77; buried at Waimairi Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Andrew John Whiteside

    Buried in 1950 at Totara Memorial Park Cemetery, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, aged 80.

    Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Marion Whiteside

    Died 1903, aged 56; buried at Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 29 records for Whiteside in New Zealand.

Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

United Kingdom24 records

24 records of the Whiteside name in the United Kingdom
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 23
  • Stirling Council burial records 1
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record John Whiteside

    Died 1918, aged 68; buried at Bannockburn Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland.

    Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
  2. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record C. Whiteside

    Army Service Corps. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1918.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)
  3. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record W. H. Whiteside

    Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1918.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)

Showing 3 of 24 records for Whiteside in the United Kingdom.

Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Netherlands4 records

4 records of the Whiteside name in the Netherlands Dutch population registers
  1. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Population register Sidneij E. Whiteside

    In the population register of Nijmegen; born 1902.

    Open Archives, Regionaal Archief Nijmegen (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Population register Sidneij E. Whiteside

    In the population register of Nijmegen; born 1878.

    Open Archives, Regionaal Archief Nijmegen (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Population register Sidney E. Whiteside

    In the population register of Nijmegen; born 1878.

    Open Archives, Regionaal Archief Nijmegen (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 4 records for Whiteside in the Netherlands.

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. census of 1910, Milwaukee (public domain).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Whiteside.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Whiteside is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

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