First name origin & meaning:
Latin: Rock, stone
First name variations: Pete, Petey, Pietor, Pytor, Petr, Pieter, Piotr, Pietro, Pedro, Pierre, Piers, Pierce, Peer, Pero, Piero, Peder, Per, Pelle, Peadair, Petrus, Peterson, Perrin, Perkin, Perkins, Parnell, Parle, Parkin, Parkinson, Petrie, Petri, Petronio, Pierson, Péter, Petò, Petúr, Pyotr
Last name origin & meaning:
English, Scottish, German, Dutch, etc.: from the personal name
Peter (Greek Petros, from petra ‘rock’,
‘stone’). The name was popular throughout Christian Europe in the
Middle Ages, having been bestowed by Christ as a byname on the apostle
Simon bar Jonah, the brother of Andrew. The name was chosen by Christ
for its symbolic significance (John 1:42, Matt. 16:18); St. Peter is
regarded as the founding head of the Christian Church in view of
Christ’s saying, ‘Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my
Church’. In Christian Germany in the early Middle Ages this was the
most frequent personal name of non-Germanic origin until the 14th
century. This surname has also absorbed many cognates in other
languages, for example Czech Petr, Hungarian Péter.
It has also been adopted as a surname by Ashkenazic Jews.
Famous people with this first name:
Peter Frampton,
Peter Gabriel,
Peter Jennings,
Peter O'Toole,
Peter Sarsgaard,
Peter Tork
Famous people who gave their babies this name:
Mikhail Baryshnikov,
Stephen Colbert,
Sally Field,
Stephanie Seymour
This name appears in the following lists:
Biblical Names,
Child Stars,
Literary Characters,
Artists,
Poets,
Saints,
Nobel Prize Winners,
Opera Singers,
Silver Screen
Pregnancy
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