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    The surname Purvis

    An English occupational surname, carried by 16,686 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex P612

    Purvis: #2,177 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Purvis #2,177, 16,686 people Purvis: #2,177 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Purvis #2,177, 16,686 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Purvis is more common than 98.7% of them.

    Origin

    English origin

    Perhaps from Middle English purveys (“provisions, supplies”), hence a metonymic occupational surname for an official responsible of obtaining supplies.

    Purvis is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

    One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 16,686 people named Purvis in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 18,503 Americans. That is up 1.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 16,381.

    #2,177
    rank among US surnames
    16,686
    people in 2010
    5.7
    per 100,000 Americans
    +1.9%
    change since 2000 (was #2,028)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,168Pendleton16,75118,431
    #2,169Naylor16,74518,438
    #2,170Gerber16,73218,452
    #2,171Schrader16,72718,458
    #2,172Burnette16,71718,469
    #2,173Maguire16,71318,473
    #2,174Doran16,70418,483

    Who is named Purvis

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    79% of people named Purvis identified as white (not Hispanic), 17% as Black (not Hispanic) and 1.9% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 79%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 17%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.9%
    • Two or more races 1.8%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Purviss

    4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Jack Purvis
      British actor (1937-1997)
    • Marie Purvis
      British cyclist, born 1961
    • Harriet Forten Purvis
      American abolitionist (1810–1875)
    • Rodney Purvis
      American basketball player (born 1994)

    Notable Purviss come mostly from the United Kingdom (2) and the United States (2).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    • Purves

    Purvis has the Soundex code P612, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code P612.

    Other English surnames

    All 1,446 English surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Purvis come from?
    Perhaps from Middle English purveys (“provisions, supplies”), hence a metonymic occupational surname for an official responsible of obtaining supplies.
    How common is the surname Purvis?
    16,686 people in the United States had the surname Purvis in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 18,503 Americans. It ranked 2,177th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Purvis?
    In the 2010 Census, 79% of people named Purvis identified as white (not Hispanic), and 17% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Purvis?
    Jack Purvis, British actor (1937-1997), followed by Marie Purvis.
    Where is the surname Purvis most common?
    Wikidata records people named Purvis in the United Kingdom and the United States.
    What type of surname is Purvis?
    Purvis is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
    Is the surname Purvis getting more or less common?
    More common. 16,381 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 16,686 in 2010, up 1.9%.
    What are other spellings of Purvis?
    Purves.