Purdy
A surname that likely began as a reduced or altered form of a French oath-based nickname, later fixed in English as Purdy.
The #2,396 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 20,412 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical dictionaries most often connect Purdy with older forms such as Pardew or Pardieu, which go back to French expressions based on an oath, especially something like par Dieu, meaning “by God.” Over time, that sort of nickname could be softened and respelled in English dialects until it settled as Purdy. A few 19th-century writers also treated related forms as nicknames rather than true patronymics or place-names.
History
Bardsley and Lower both point Purdy to Pardew, while Harrison groups Purdy with related forms such as Purdue and Purdie under oath-derived nicknames. In modern English-speaking countries the name is best known as an established surname in its own right, especially in Britain and the United States. Historical records show several spelling variants, but Purdy became the dominant standardized form in the U.S.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname dictionaries sometimes linked Purdy to a French exclamation rather than to a family line or a place-name.
From the historical record
“PURDUE f/Br-), q.v. ' PURDY PURDYEi That Redcrosse knight, perdie, I never slew. — Spenser, The Faerie Queene, \, vi. 42. PURDOM (A.-Fr.-Lat.) a nickname from the oath ParDom ! By (the) Lord! [Fr. par, Lat. per + Fr. dom, Lat. domin-um (ace.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)