Peter
Peter is ranked 192nd among boys in 2024 (1,889 births). Its best rank was 31st, in 1880.
- Rank in 2024
- #192up 18 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 1,8890.11% of boys
- Peak year
- 195711,604 births
- Best rank
- #31in 1880
- Since 1880
- 589,576people given the name
The story in the numbers
587,633 boys have been named Peter in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1957, with 11,604 births — 0.54% of all boys recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 204 → 192).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1961, and the 1950s alone account for 17%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 117 of them in the top 100.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 1,943 girls have also been given it, 0.33% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Peter | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 4,656 | |
| 1890s | 4,028 | |
| 1900s | 4,376 | |
| 1910s | 24,935 | |
| 1920s | 34,068 | |
| 1930s | 35,821 | |
| 1940s | 69,328 | |
| 1950s | 102,754 | |
| 1960s | 92,411 | |
| 1970s | 62,330 | |
| 1980s | 56,725 | |
| 1990s | 42,393 | |
| 2000s | 26,131 | |
| 2010s | 18,719 | |
| 2020s | 8,958 |
In 1957, its biggest year
Peter was the 37th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1957 were Michael, James, David, Robert and John. See all of 1957.
Names that rose and fell with Peter
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Nealpeak 1959
- Thomaspeak 1952
- Allenpeak 1951
- Byronpeak 1964
- Philippeak 1953
- Stewartpeak 1956
- Fredrickpeak 1953
- Martinpeak 1963
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.