Perdue
An English and French surname that may have begun as a nickname from French peregrine, meaning “pilgrim” or “traveller,” though some sources treat it as related to other Per- forms.
The #2,211 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,753 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest historical note links Perdue to French and ultimately Latin peregrinus, “pilgrim” or “stranger,” a word that also gave French pèlerin. In that line of explanation, the surname would have started as a nickname for a traveller, pilgrim, or outsider. Some older surname dictionaries, however, place Perdue among a cluster of similar-looking names and do not give a fully secure derivation, so the etymology is not completely certain.
History
The name is recorded in English-language surname reference works of the 19th century, where it appears alongside variants such as Pardoe and Pardew. It is also found in North American records by the mid-1800s, showing that the surname had already crossed into English-speaking settler communities. Later usage in the United States made Perdue a fairly familiar surname, though still not a common one.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 1912 surname dictionary explicitly glosses the related name Peregrine as “pilgrim, traveller; foreigner, stranger,” which helps explain why Perdue has often been grouped with that family of names.
From the historical record
“PERDOE, V. Pardoe. PERDUE, V. Pardew. PEREGRINE (Fr.-Lat.) Pilgrim, Traveller ; Foreigner, Stranger [Lat. j>eregrin-us ; ■ whence Span, peregrino and Fr. pdlerin (Sanctus Pere^rinus, bishop of Auxerre, d. A.JD. 304, became in French Saint Pileriti] ^l^pl^^jv. under Parfett ante,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)