Whiteoak

Recorded as Whiteoak, Whittack, Whittock, Whittick, Whitticks, Whytock, and others, this is an English surname. It is almost certainly locational and may be from a place called White Oak Green, near Witney in Oxfordshire, or more likely is from a now "lost" medieval village. This may have been called Hwit oc in pre 7th century Olde English. There are twenty four varieties of oak tree in England, and the White Oak is quite rare. When they occured in the past they were often used as local area boundary markers or meeting places for the village moot or council. Some three thousand places are known to have disappeared from the maps and gazetters of England over the past five centuries, leaving as their only reminder any surviving surnames associated with that place. As the surnames themselves have become "detached" from their original homes, spellings have changed, and it is now often difficult or impossible to be certain of the original and correct spelling. Early examples of recordings include John Wyytock of Somerset in the Hundred Rolls of the county in 1327, William Wittoc of Westmoreland in 1334, John Whittock at St. Giles Cripplegate in the city of London on October 14th 1672, Joseph Whiteoak in the Friary Rolls of Yorkshire in 1704, and Thomas Whitticks at St. Lukes Chelsea, on May 4th 1800.