This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Purdon' or Purden. For suffix, v. Downe or Dean.

John Purden, Cambridgeshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Adam Purdone, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

This name was once very prominent both in Co. Cork and Co. Clare. According to the family pedigree they came from Cumberland and settled in Co. Louth in the first half of the sixteenth century. The pedigree, however, needs revision as it confuses Tulla in Co. Clare with Tulloe (alias Tullagh) Co. Limerick.

Any connexion they had with Co. Louth was shortlived: in 1570 Simon Purdon of Tallaght, Co. Dublin was granted a pension on account of being lamed in the Queen's service. He was the ancestor of the Purdons of Co. Clare: they became established there at least a generation before the Cromwellian upheaval, for another Simon Purdon, who held the position of governor of Co. Clare, was born at Tinerana in 1655. They appear in the “census” of 1659. Another early reference is to one Morris Purdon who was Co. Limerick agent to George Courtney, the well known Munster “undertaker”. This Purdon died in 1638. Twenty years later Petty's “census” records John Purdon as titulado of Tullo in the parish of Lismakeery, Co. Limerick, while two more of the name were tituladoes at Ballyclogh, Co. Cork, and Major Purdon was at Buttevant with his troop: he was an officer in Inchiquin's army and is presumably the John Purdon of Tullo mentioned above. According to Canon Begley this family was of the Catholic gentry of Co. Limerick, but they did not suffer transplantation; one of them, Sylvester of Tullo, served in James II's army and suffered forfeiture as a Jacobite but his estate was restored in 1698. From the end of the seventeenth century Purdons were associated mainly with Co. Cork and were fairly numerous: the Cloyne marriage licence bonds include 26 Purdons in little more than a century from 1683; and the register of students of Dublin University has 36 of the name, mostly from Co. Cork, the earliest being born in 1645. There are many references to the name in such collections as the Ormond, Orrery and Inchiquin papers, now in the Manuscripts Department of the National Library of Ireland. It is now more numerous in Antrim and Down: there it has sometimes been used synonymously with Purdy.

(English) Dweller at the Peartree- Hill [Old English pirige, peartree + dún, hill]

Families of this name were established in Cos.

Clare and Limerick early in the seventeenth century; later a branch went to Co. Cork. SIF 125

From Purton; a location name in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire Or Pirton; Hertfordshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire.