Origin
and meaning of the Name
The origin of our family
name is Switzerland. The oldest known document bearing the family
name is in the national archives at Lausanne, Switzerland. It
is dated 1242 A.D., and was a written agreement between two people.
In the agreement, "P son of Wion Visinant" is listed
as a witness to the agreement.
I
was told by the archivist in Lausanne that the name means "neighbor".
The name is still used today in Switzerland, but is currently
spelled there as "Visinand".
When
the Visinand family arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1731,
aboard the ship Snow Lowther, they signed the ship log as "Vissnant".
Shortly
thereafter the name was changed to Whisenhunt. Thus began the
first of many family name changes by various family groups. We
have found over 80 variations in the spelling of the name since
1731.
Today,
you'll find that most of the family members spell the name either
as Whisnant, Whisenant, Whisenhunt, Whisnand, Whisonant, Whisenand,
Whisante, or Visinand.
Some spelling variations of our family name
Our Whisnant ancestors have lived in the United States for over
250 years now. In that time, there have been many variations on
the spelling of family name. I have listed the most common variations
below. If you fail to find your ancestors under the surname you
think they should be listed under, look under the other spellings.
The name most commonly used is listed first, followed by the next
most common, etc.
Popular variations
• Whisenant
• Whisnant
• Whisenhunt
• Whisenand
• Whisonant
• Whisnand
• Whisennand
• Whisante
• Visinand
By the way, in Switzerland they pronounce "Visinand"
with a silent "d" at the end of the name. To me it sound
like they're saying "Visi-no", short "o".
Here's
a wave file of me trying to pronouncing the name the way they
do in Switzerland. www.raymondwhisnant.com/visinand.wav
LINKS
http://genforum.genealogy.com/whisnant/
www.unc.edu/~whisnant/appal/Sylfal97.htm
