# Purse (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/purse/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Middle English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 381 |
| US rank (2010) | 54,178 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 810,356 people |
| Change since 2000 | -2.1% (389 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /pɝs/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

A metonymic occupational surname for someone who made bags or purses, from Middle English purse.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Purse in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 66% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 27% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.9% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Similar surnames

Parise, Preuss, Pearse, Prowse, Purkey, Perez, Price, Pierce, Park, Powers, Parks, Parrish.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.