Family name origins & meanings
- Southern Italian (Campania) : habitational name from places called Padula, in Salerno and Teramo, Paduli in Benevento, or various other places, all named from a metathesized form of palude ‘swamp’.
- Polish (Paduła) : nickname for someone who was unsteady on his feet, from a derivative of padać ‘to fall down’.