Explore the Family Name Purdom

The meaning of Purdom

Scottish (Roxburghshire): metathesized form of Prudom; the -ru- reversal is a fairly common occurrence in words where -r- is preceded or followed by a vowel.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Purdom in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Purdom has seen an increase in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 18,802, but by 2010, it had risen to the rank of 18,184, indicating a 3.29% rise in popularity. The count of individuals with this surname also increased during this period from 1,347 to 1,530, marking a 13.59% growth. Proportionally, for every 100,000 people in the U.S., there were about 0.5 people named Purdom in 2000 and this figure slightly increased to 0.52 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#18,802	#18,184	3.29%
Count	1,347	1,530	13.59%
Proportion per 100k	0.5	0.52	4%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Purdom

The ethnic identity breakdown of those bearing the surname Purdom underwent some changes as well, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. As of 2000, Whites made up the majority at 89.31%, but this figure dipped slightly to 87.78% in 2010. Hispanic representation among Purdoms saw a significant increase of 37.30%, albeit still a small portion of the total, going from 2.52% in 2000 to 3.46% in 2010. Meanwhile, those identifying as Black decreased by 8.44%, going from 5.57% in 2000 to 5.10% in 2010. The percentage of American Indians and Alaskan Natives saw a decline of 19.63%, reducing from 1.63% to 1.31%. Notably, the surname started appearing among Asians/Pacific Islanders and those identifying as two or more races in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	89.31%	87.78%	-1.71%
Black	5.57%	5.1%	-8.44%
Hispanic	2.52%	3.46%	37.3%
Two or More Races	0%	2.03%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	1.63%	1.31%	-19.63%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.33%	0%