Find out how popular the last name Purinton is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Purinton.

Purinton, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Purinton surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Purinton in America

Purinton is the 26126th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Purinton surname appeared 937 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Purinton.

We can also compare 2010 data for Purinton to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Purinton

The surname Purinton is believed to have originated in the British Isles, specifically England. It is thought to be a locational name derived from the place name "Puddington" or "Puddingdon," which are old spellings of places in Bedfordshire and Wiltshire, respectively.

The name likely has its roots in the Old English words "pudding" and "tun," which together mean "farm or town of the pudding makers." This suggests that the earliest bearers of this surname may have been associated with the production or trade of puddings or other baked goods.

One of the earliest recorded references to this surname can be found in the Hundred Rolls of Bedfordshire from 1273, where a person named William de Puddington is mentioned. This historical record provides evidence of the name's existence and spelling variations in the 13th century.

In the 16th century, a notable figure with this surname was John Purinton, born around 1540 in England. He was a merchant and member of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, a influential trading company during the Elizabethan era.

Another early record of the name can be found in the Protestation Returns of 1641-1642, where a Richard Purinton is listed as residing in the parish of St. Sepulchre, London.

During the 17th century, the name appeared in various parts of England, including Wiltshire, where a Thomas Purinton was born around 1650 and later became a prominent landowner in the region.

In the late 18th century, a notable individual named James Purinton (1740-1815) was a British military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War, fighting on the side of the British forces.

As the name spread to other parts of the world, particularly North America, it underwent further spelling variations, such as Purinton, Purrington, and Purington. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in America was John Purinton, who was born in England in 1615 and later emigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Purinton

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Purinton.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Purinton was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Purinton has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Purinton was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Purinton, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!