Petros
Masculine · “Greek petros”
Peter is a nickname made from a pun, and the pun is the reason we have the name. In Matthew 16, Jesus says you are Petros and on this petra I will build my church. The joke works in Greek because petros is a stone and petra is rock. It works in Aramaic too, where kepha does both jobs. It does not work in English at all.
How old is the name Petros?
Petros first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Petros alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 700 people named Petros are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Petros most popular?
Petros peaked in 1979, reaching #2465 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 5,778 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kepha to Petros
The story of Petros
The Matthew passage is one of the most argued-over sentences in Christianity, and much of the argument turns on the difference between petros and petra. Greek has two words and the gendered pair is not identical: petra is bedrock, petros a detached stone, so the sentence can be read as making a distinction or as making none. Aramaic, the language Jesus is likeliest to have spoken, has one word, kepha, and no distinction at all, which is why some readers argue the Greek preserves a wordplay that was simpler in the original. What is not in doubt is that the name is a nickname given for a reason and recorded with its explanation attached, which almost no other name in the Bible is. Every Peter, Pedro, Pierre, Pietro, Pyotr and Petros descends from a sentence about masonry.
Meaning
Greek petros, a stone
From Greek petros, a stone or boulder, the masculine counterpart of petra, rock or bedrock. The apostle's given name was Simon; Petros is a translation of the Aramaic nickname Kepha, rock, which survives untranslated in the New Testament as Cephas. Petros is the modern Greek form of the name, and the American peak in 1979 reflects Greek immigrant families rather than English usage.
How the name formed
- Kepha
- Petros
- Peter
Related forms: Petros · Bedros · Petros
Pronouncing Petros
PEH-tros
Two syllables, stress on the first in Greek. The final -os is the Greek masculine nominative ending, which is dropped in most other languages: Pedro, Pierre, Pyotr and Peter have all removed it. English speakers often say PEE-tross with a long first vowel.
Nicknames for Petros
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
- 1964
- Most boys named
- 197919 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2465reached in 1979
- Change vs 2024
- −43.8%9 in 2025, from 16
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.
Petros in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Petros in Greek — same name
- Bedros in Armenian — same name
- Petros in Amharic — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Petross among us
people named Petros are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Petros
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 Miriam test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Petros's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Miriam climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Miriam's path sketches the road Petros is walking now.
Petros 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
Petros beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Petros 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 settled and the story behind it is recorded in the source text.
- Pete is available and immediately understood in English.
- The name is current in Greek, Armenian and Ethiopian Christianity alike.
- English speakers lengthen the first vowel.
- Peter is the form that will be assumed in English contexts.
- The Greek case ending looks unfamiliar on an American form.
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Petros
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Petross are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Petros are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Petros in 2025?
- Petros ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Petros?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Petros — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Petros with classmates?
- Petros will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Petros
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 Petros? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Petros and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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