Peters

surname · Latin script

Meaning, in German: a surname transferred from the given name common in northern Germany

Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published

/ˈpitɝz/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated

Peters is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in China than in any other country. In Guyana it is the 9th most common surname.

rarermore common
  • GYGuyana1 in 225(measured from records)
  • NLNetherlands1 in 574
  • DEGermany≈1 in 1.1K

carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.

China (inferred from the name graph)

≈450,000 people, est.

#580 (measured from records)

of 19M surnames

Sources
563 (measured from records)

Highest-authority source

1 in 121 (inferred from the name graph)

St. Vincent & Grenadines

measured from records inferred from the name graph

Name dossier (print, CSV)

Meaning & origin(measured from records)

a surname transferred from the given name common in northern Germany

Sources 1

  • kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Attested across 3 languages in the etymology graph.

How Peters is read(measured from records)

Peters is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

  • English79%

    ‘Son of Peter’.

    as a nameEncyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]

  • German7.2%

    a surname transferred from the given name common in northern Germany

    as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

    Patronymische Bildung mit Genitiv-/Besitz-S: 'Sohn des Peter'; morphologische Kurzform. Belegt: 31.210 Träger.

    as a nameDeutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 3: Morphologie der Familiennamen

    Sehr häufiges Patronym auf starkem Genitiv -s zu Peter; ‚Sohn des Peter‘. Morphologisch: genitivisches Patronym auf -ers.

    as a nameDeutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 3: Morphologie der Familiennamen

    Patronym aus Rufname Peter/Petrus; Typ mit starkem Genitiv -s. Bearer count: 31210. Morphologisches Muster: -s neben -sen und Ø.

    as a nameDeutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 3: Morphologie der Familiennamen

    Surname; frequent element in double surnames; bearer count 238.

    as a nameDeutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 3: Morphologie der Familiennamen

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Often considered alongside

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Peters, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Where in the world(measured from records)

Peters counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.

Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.

Where Peters is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
CN China—≈450,000 est.≈1 in 3.1K—Peters24
US United States#181137,5131 in 2.4K138KPeters563
DE Germany#42≈75,000 est.≈1 in 1.1K—Peters252
NG Nigeria#602≈49,000 est.≈1 in 4.4K—Peters106
GB United Kingdom#180≈32,000 est.≈1 in 2K—Peters284
NL Netherlands#2130,1061 in 57430KPeters143
GY Guyana#93,3291 in 2253.3KPeters15
VC St. Vincent & Grenadines—8351 in 121835—8
GD Grenada—6921 in 163692—15

Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.

Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; CBG Familienamenbank — Dutch surname bearer counts (GBA/BRP 2007); Guyana — Official List of Electors July 2025; Electoral Office of St Vincent & the Grenadines — Final Voters List (Nov 2025); Grenada — Consolidated List of Electors December 2025. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.

Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).

Other names spelled this way(inferred from the name graph)

Peters is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

  • Spanish surname13 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, France, Mexico, Brazil

    Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

    Also written Péters, Pētērs, Pëtërs, Peter'S, Pèťèřs

  • a separate name5 spellings in the group

    Also written Péters, Pēters, Peter-S

  • Russian surname28 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Russia, Kazakhstan, United States, Ukraine

    Languages: Russian, Polish, Ukrainian

    Also written Петерс, Питерс, Peeters, Пітерс, Пеетерс

  • Swahili surname3 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, Nigeria, South Africa, United Kingdom

    Also written Peter'S

  • Danish surname7 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom

    Languages: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian

    Also written Péters

  • Hungarian surname7 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Hungary, United States, Netherlands, United Kingdom

    Languages: Hungarian, Estonian, Finnish

    Also written Péters, Peter'S, Péter'S

  • Greek surname2 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands

    Also written Πιτερς

80 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Notable people with this name(measured from records)

190019502000John Peters Humphrey, b. 1905Svetlana Alliluyeva, b. 1926Jean Peters, b. 1926Brock Peters, b. 1927Jon Peters, b. 1945Bernadette Peters, b. 1948Clarke Peters, b. 1952Gary Peters, b. 1958Russell Peters, b. 1970Evan Peters, b. 1987

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

How to address them(machine-generated)

FormalDear Colleague,
InformalHello,

Evidence(measured from records)

Attested in 69 sources across 42 countries.

Official registers attesting Peters
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20102010138K#205
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20002000134K#190
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20202020132K#215
NL NetherlandsCBG Familienamenbank — Dutch surname bearer counts (GBA/BRP 2007)200730K#10
GY GuyanaGuyana — Official List of Electors July 202520253.3K#14
VC St. Vincent & GrenadinesElectoral Office of St Vincent & the Grenadines — Final Voters List (Nov 2025)2025835#15
GD GrenadaGrenada — Consolidated List of Electors December 20252025692#17

Reference works 6

These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Peters mean, and where does it come from?
a surname transferred from the given name common in northern Germany Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
How do you pronounce Peters?
A machine transcription gives /ˈpitɝz/ (IPA) for English.
In which country does Peters have the most bearers?
Mondonomo estimates about 452 thousand people named Peters in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled peters.
Where is Peters most common?
Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Peters is densest in St. Vincent & Grenadines — about 1 in 121 people — even though China holds more of our records for it.
How common is the name Peters?
In the United States, the national register counted 137,513 people named Peters in 2010, about 1 in 2.4 thousand residents.
How common is Peters compared with other names?
In Guyana, Peters is the 9th most common surname of 15,834 surnames recorded there.

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Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/peters

The payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.

About this data

measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated

These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.

Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.

Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.

Cite this page Mondonomo, “Peters” — the 9th most common surname in Guyana. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.

See how Peters parses inside a full name →