Purmo is a former municipality of Finland. It was incorporated into the rural municipality of Pedersöre (currently the municipality of Pedersöre) in Ostrobothnia in 1977. Purmo is home to a wooden church built by Antti Hakola in 1772. Approximately 1,400 people live in Purmo and like in Pedersöre, they are mainly Swedish-speaking.

The Purmo Group, a manufacturing firm, was founded in Purmo in 1953.

Villages

• Nederpurmo
• Överpurmo
• Lillby

Name

According to Lars Huldén, the name of Purmo may come from the Finnish words puro (stream) and maa (land) or from a North Karelian surname, Purmonen. Other possibilities include a common origin with Purmoniemi, a peninsula in Evijärvi and Purmonsaari, a hill in Lappajärvi; as well as a relation to the South Ostrobothnian dialectal word purmu referring to a pit for storing beets during the winter.

History

Purmo was first mentioned as a village within the Pedersöre parish in 1543. It became a chapel community in 1771 and an independent parish and municipality in 1867.

Purmo was merged back into Pedersöre in 1977.