# Are There Any White People Named 'Washington'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357 "2006-02-07T06:04:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/41 "2006-02-08T21:08:19Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Here’s a cited article discussing [black soldiers](http://www.blackcamisards.com/sc-usct/articles/namechng.html) who changed their names. From this article: > [@](#): > > "I was born in Berkeley County, the slave of Capt. Theodore L. Gourdine. My father was Crapps Dingle. I served under the name of Nero Gourdine. I changed my name to Dingle about fifteen years ago. Up to that time I was called Gourdine. I pay taxes under the name of Dingle. If it is the same to the government I should like to have my name changed to Negro Dingle on the pension certificate The guy’s name was _Crapps Dingle_?!? And his son had his name changed to Negro Dingle. Wow, this is an object lesson about how much one man hated his slave name and the lengths he would go to in order to disassociate himself from it. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/42 "2006-02-08T21:13:45Z")
The 1930 U.S. census had 14,436 heads-of-household with the surname Washington who were black, and 1,049 heads-of-household who were white. The 1930 U.S. census had 221 heads-of-household with the surname Lincoln who were were black, and 2,079 heads-of-household who were white. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/43 "2006-02-08T21:23:48Z")
Oh, and there were five people named Lincoln Washington in the 1930 U.S. census. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/44 "2006-02-08T21:34:13Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > The guy’s name was _Crapps Dingle_?!? And his son had his name changed to Negro Dingle. Wow, this is an object lesson about how much one man hated his slave name and the lengths he would go to in order to disassociate himself from it. Good lord, what dreadful names. I just wanted to point out - though I’m sure most know already - that the source of many of these names are places in the British Isles: Washington - towns in Sussex and Tyne-and-Wear Lincoln - city (and county town) in Lincolnshire Dingle - peninsula and town in the Republic of Ireland Not sure that there’s a “Clinton” in England, though there is an Aston Clinton. “-ton” means “township” or “enclosure” in ye Olde Englishe. ---
**Author:** ![she\_sells\_sea\_snails](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@she\_sells\_sea\_snails](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/she_sells_sea_snails)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/45 "2006-02-08T21:36:26Z")
So \*\* Sureal\*\* was right after all and **Larry “You do ask some peculiar questions” Mudd** was wrong after all. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/46 "2006-02-08T22:08:41Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > The 1903 U.S. census has 898 heads-of-household with the **surname** Winston who are white. I’m actually talking about Winston as a **first** name. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/47 "2006-02-08T22:14:51Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > Lenny Kravitz, Local H, Ice T / Body Count (“Cop Killer” was _not_ a rap song), Skunk Anansie, Prince, Fishbone, Living Color, Suicidal Tendencies… Hootie and the Blowfish ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/48 "2006-02-08T22:21:18Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > You do ask some peculiar questions. Hence the user name… ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/49 "2006-02-08T22:41:17Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > I’ve noticed that while it is quite common for black people to have the last name ‘Washington’, I can’t think of a single Caucasian person who currently bears that particular name. Why is this the case? > Did African Americans with the name ‘Washington’ obtain their names from white slave-holders of the same name? If so, where did all of the white ‘Washingtons’ disappear to? Thanks. wAG **George?** ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/50 "2006-02-08T22:45:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Hootie and the Blowfish That’s not rock, it’s crap. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/51 "2006-02-09T01:24:03Z")
In the 1930 U.S. census, there were 1,320 heads-of-household with the first name Winston. Of those, 956 (72%) were white. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/52 "2006-02-09T01:41:16Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > wAG **George?** George Washington is current? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/53 "2006-02-09T21:01:08Z")
Perhaps this may be of interest: “With the end of the Civil War, slaves – whose surnames, if they had one, indicated their ownership – were able to choose names of their own. At the time, Washington was probably the best-known and revered name a person could take. The modern legacy of those countless choices is that better than 90 percent of all Americans named Washington [in 2002] are black, according to David Word, a Census Bureau demographer…. It is the common American name whose bearer is most likely to be black…. The rush to choose the name Washington began even before 1865. When the African American Civil War Memorial, which lists the names of the more than 200,000 United States Colored Troops, was unveiled in Washington, D.C. in 1998, Edwin Washington of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society calculated that 1,885 of those soldiers were named Washington. Nearly half of them were named George Washington. Another 15 were named General Washington.” Jonathan Tilove, “A lot of Washingtons make black history,” _The Plain Dealer_ (Cleveland, Feb. 13, 2002), pp. A1, A15. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/54 "2006-02-09T23:12:29Z")
I’ve heard a joke to this effect…in dubious taste, but certainly germaine to this discussion: Q: What do Washington, Jefferson and Jackson have in common? A: They were the last white guys with those names. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/55 "2006-02-10T16:54:07Z")
I might add… I’ve never met a white person named Washington. But one of our son’s middle names is the same as that of the first President. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/56 "2010-09-02T00:12:26Z")
Micahel Jackson, the writer of ‘Blame it on the Boogie’ was a white English man in his 30’s (at the time). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/57 "2010-09-02T07:43:35Z")
Thriller! ---
**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/58 "2010-09-02T08:06:58Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > George & Martha Washington had no children. I wonder if “Washington” was ever a common name even back then, and nearly died out before the freed slaves resurrected it? At the time G. Washingtons forebears emigrated the town of [**Washington**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_Tyne_and_Wear) was very small (it’s been expanded a lot since the 1960’s), so there probably weren’t many people of that name to start with. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/59 "2010-09-02T16:43:27Z")
> [@These are my own pants](#): > > Micahel Jackson, the writer of ‘Blame it on the Boogie’ was a white English man in his 30’s (at the time). At the time this thread was started anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357/60 "2011-02-21T16:24:31Z")
For those interested, here’s a recent update on “the blackest name in America”: [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110221/ap\_on\_re\_us/us\_the\_blackest\_name](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110221/ap_on_re_us/us_the_blackest_name) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-white-people-named-washington/343357.md?page=4)