Partridge
An English surname usually taken from the bird partridge, though some early writers thought a few forms may come from a place-name ending in -ridge.
The #3,589 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,158 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The common explanation is that Partridge began as a nickname from the bird name, in Middle English forms like partrich or partriche, ultimately from Old French perdrix and Latin perdix. Surnames from birds were often used as descriptive bynames, much as with Nightingale or Wildgoose. Some older authorities also suggested that in a few cases the name could reflect a place-name ending in -ridge rather than the bird, so the origin is not absolutely uniform in every family line.
History
The name is recorded in medieval English sources and appears as a hereditary surname by the later Middle Ages. Bardsley noted a strong concentration in Yorkshire, and later the name remained well established in English-speaking records, including the United States. The surname also produced occasional humorous or occupational-looking forms such as Partridge-taker in historical records, but that is not the same as the surname’s original source.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bird-based surnames were a lively medieval fashion, and Partridge sits in the same broad family as names like Nightingale, Wildgoose, and Sparrow.
From the historical record
“PARTRICK. A corruption of Patrick. PARTRIDGE. Possibly from th^ bird ; but more likely from some locality termi- nating in -RIDGE. Partriche is, however, a H.R. surname. PASCALL. An Old Fr. baptismal name, Pascal, first imposed on children born at the season of Pasche or Easter, like Noel, Christmas, Pentecost, and…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom