Peterson
Masculine · “Son of Peter”
Iceland still changes its surnames every generation. A man called Jon Petursson has a son called Petur Jonsson and a daughter called Anna Jonsdottir, and the family has no shared surname at all. The rest of Scandinavia did the same until the nineteenth century, when governments passed laws freezing the patronymic in place, and Peterson is one of those frozen names.
How old is the name Peterson?
Peterson first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Peterson alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 800 people named Peterson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Peterson most popular?
Peterson peaked in 1982, reaching #2269 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 5,974 places below that high. See the whole 1982 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Petros to Peterson
The story of Peterson
Denmark passed its first naming law in 1828, requiring families to adopt a fixed surname, and Norway followed in 1923; Sweden's came in stages through the nineteenth century. Before that, a patronymic was a description rather than a name, recreated each generation, and it identified a person exactly as long as you knew their father. Fixing it broke that link but solved an administrative problem, since a modern state needs names that persist. The result is the enormous concentration of -sen and -son names in Scandinavia: at the moment of freezing, whatever a family's father was called became permanent, and a handful of very common first names supplied nearly all of them. Iceland refused the change and still requires patronymics by law, which is why Icelandic phone books are alphabetised by first name.
Meaning
Son of Peter, from Greek petros, a stone
A patronymic surname meaning son of Peter, from Greek petros, a stone, the nickname given to the apostle Simon. The spelling with one t and one s is chiefly English and Scottish; Danish and Norwegian use Petersen, Swedish Pettersson. As an American given name Peterson is often a Haitian or Caribbean given name rather than a surname used as one, and it peaks in 1982.
How the name formed
- Petros
- Peter
- Peterson
Related forms: Petersen · Pettersson · Pieterse
Pronouncing Peterson
PEE-ter-sun
Three syllables, stress on the first. The Scandinavian forms stress the first syllable too but keep the middle vowel fuller. Haitian French speakers say peh-ter-SON with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Peterson
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
- 1950
- Most boys named
- 198928 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2269reached in 1982
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%9 in 2025, from 9
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.
Peterson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Petersen in Danish — same name
- Pettersson in Swedish — same name
- Pieterse in Dutch — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida.
Petersons among us
people named Peterson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Peterson
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Pearce test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Peterson's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pearce climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pearce's path sketches the road Peterson is walking now.
Peterson 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
Peterson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Peterson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The etymology is complete and documented at every step.
- Pete is an easy and universally understood short form.
- It works as a given name in Haiti and the Caribbean and as a surname elsewhere.
- It reads as a surname to most Americans.
- Petersen, Pedersen and Pettersson are all near neighbors.
- Three syllables is long for a first name.
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What they receive
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Peterson
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Petersons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Peterson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Peterson in 2025?
- Peterson ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Peterson?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Peterson — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Peterson with classmates?
- Peterson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Peterson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Peterson? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Peterson and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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