Pete
Masculine · “rock”
Pete is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 43,530 boys against 170 girls since 1880.
Pete is a rock. Jesus gives the apostle Simon the Aramaic nickname Kepha, and the gospels translate it into Greek as Petros — which is where every Peter in Europe comes from.
How old is the name Pete?
Pete was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Pete alive today was born around 1945, making them about 80 years old. About 20,000 people named Pete are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pete most popular?
Pete peaked in 1908, reaching #173 nationally. Today it ranks #2363, 2,190 places below that high. See the whole 1908 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From kepha to Pete
The story of Pete
Peter was the leading apostle and the first bishop of Rome in tradition, and his name became one of the commonest in Europe — Pierre, Pedro, Pietro, Pyotr, Piotr. English used Peter steadily from the Middle Ages, and Pete was its ordinary clipping. American families registered it outright from the 1930s, and it peaked in the mid-1950s.
Meaning
rock, stone
From the Greek petros, 'stone', which the gospels use to render the Aramaic kepha, 'rock'. The naming is explicit in Matthew, where the pun on rock and foundation is the point. It is one of the very few names in scripture whose bestowal is narrated and explained.
How the name formed
- kepha
- Petros
- Peter
- Pete
Related forms: Pedro · Pietro · Pyotr · Pierre
Pronouncing Pete
PEET
One syllable. Said identically in every English accent.
Nicknames for Pete
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1960756 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #173reached in 1908
- Change vs 2022
- +5.5%58 in 2025, from 55
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Pete in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pedro in Spanish — related form
- Pietro in Italian — related form
- Pyotr in Russian — related form
- Pierre in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Petes among us
people named Pete are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 29,450 born in 2025 was named Pete
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Pete sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Pete is headed
Pete should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Pete beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pete in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete and the naming is narrated in the text, which almost no other name can claim.
- Peter stands behind it with two thousand years of continuous European use.
- One syllable, plain, and never mispronounced.
- Given outright it stays informal; Peter on the certificate keeps both registers.
- It is closely associated with the middle of the twentieth century.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Pete
Masculine · #2363 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Petes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 20,000 people named Pete are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pete in 2025?
- Pete ranks #2363 among US boy names in 2025, with 58 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pete?
- About 1 in every 29,450 US boys born in 2025 was named Pete — 58 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pete with classmates?
- Pete will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pete
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kyngston#2363 · Herman#2363 · Clint#2363 · Javi#2363 · Lipa#2363 · Reuven#2363 · Zacchaeus#2363 · Khyson#2363
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pete? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pete and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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