Purvis

15,975 people in the United States were counted with the surname Purvis in the 2020 census, making it the 2,220th most common in the country. That is about one person in 18,700.

By the numbers

People: 15,975
Rank: 2,220th
How common: 1 in 18,700
Per 100,000: 5.3

Where the name comes from

Origin Middle English

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Purvis described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 76.7%
Black, not Hispanic 15.4%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.0%
Hispanic or Latino 3.0%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.6%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.3%

Notable people called Purvis

Melvin Purvis (1903–1960)FBI Agent
Daniel Purvis (born 1990)British gymnast

People named Purvis with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Purvis

Also a first name

Purvis has been given to 969 American babies as a first name since 1900, peaking in 1921. See it as a given name.

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.