WINSTON WHITE

Although there was an Old English personal name, Wynnstan, from wynn ‘joy’ + stān ‘stone’, which would have had this form if it had survived, the modern given name is a transferred use of the surname, a local name from Winston in Gloucestershire. Use as a given name originated in the Churchill family: the first Winston Churchill (b. 1620) was baptized with the surname of his mother's family. The name has continued in the family ever since, and has been widely adopted in honour of the statesman Winston Spencer Churchill (1874–1965).

English, Scottish, and Irish: from Middle English whit ‘white’, hence a nickname for someone with white hair or an unnaturally pale complexion. In some cases it represents a Middle English personal name, from an Old English byname, Hwīt(a), of this origin. As a Scottish and Irish surname it has been widely used as a translation of the many Gaelic names based on bán ‘white’ (see Bain 1) or fionn ‘fair’ (see Finn 1). There has also been some confusion with Wight.