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* As an English surname, from Middle English White, as a nickname for someone with white hair or pale complexion; in some cases from a personal name of the same meaning. See the modern adjective white. * Also as an English surname, from Old English *wiht (“bend”), found only in placenames, a derivative of the verb wican (“to yield, bend”); compare Wight. * As a Scottish Gaelic and Irish surname, used as a translation of several Gaelic names containing the element bán and geal, including Mac Giolla bháin (McElwain, Kilbane), Ó Gealagáin (Galligan), Bán (Bane), and Ó Banáin (Bannon). * Also as a Scottish and Irish surname, an Anglicization of Irish de Faoite, itself from Anglo-Norman le White, le Whyte, from the same source as the English surname.

Capitalized due to this racial sense's connotation of (current or historical) European origin, so as to follow the capitalization rules for nationalities and ethne, known in former centuries as “races” (e.g., “the Chinese race”, “the English race”), and also, perhaps, as a way to explicitly distinguish it from the color sense, which is never capitalized outside proper nouns.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱweyt- Proto-Germanic *hwītaz Proto-West Germanic *hwīt Old English hwīt Middle English whit English white Inherited from Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”). Cognates * West Frisian wyt * Dutch wit * German weiß * German weiss * Norwegian Bokmål hvit * Norwegian Nynorsk kvit * Swedish vit * Danish hvid * Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”) * Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”) * Persian سفید (sefid, “white”), Persian سپید (sepid, “white”) * Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”) * Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”)

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱweyt- Proto-Germanic *hwītaz Proto-West Germanic *hwīt Old English hwīt Middle English whit English white Inherited from Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”). Cognates * West Frisian wyt * Dutch wit * German weiß * German weiss * Norwegian Bokmål hvit * Norwegian Nynorsk kvit * Swedish vit * Danish hvid * Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”) * Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”) * Persian سفید (sefid, “white”), Persian سپید (sepid, “white”) * Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”) * Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”)