Peter is a popular male name.

Meaning

Peter comes from the Latin word petrus (petro-), meaning rock. According to the New Testament, Kepha (Aramaic "rock") was the nickname Jesus used for the Apostle Peter, who's given name was Simon. The nickname was later translated into Greek as Lythos (litho-) and into Latin as Petrus, from which the English form "Peter" comes. Because of the depth of Peter's faith, Jesus had called him "the rock on which I will build my church." Saint Peter was the first Pope, from whom all Catholic Popes (and later Orthodox and Anglican Archbishops) claim religious authority through Apostolic succession.

In other languages

The following names can be interpreted as Peter in English:

• Dutch: Peter, Pieter, Piet
• French: Pierre
• German: Peter
• Greek: Petros
• Hungarian: Petar
• Italian: Pietro
• Latin: Petrus
• Polish: Piotr
• Portuguese: Pedro
• Romanian: Petru
• Russian: Пётр (Pyotr)
• Scandinavian languages: Per, Peer (archaic), Peder, Petter
• Spanish: Pedro
• Hindi: Pathar

Disambiguation

People and things named Peter include:

• the Christian Saint Peter
• Peter the Great, the first Emperor of the Russian Empire
• Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow
• Peter Rabbit, the famous Beatrix Potter children's character
• Peter (ピーター), a Japanese transvestite and actor who has appeared in Akira Kurosawa's Ran (among other films).
• Blue Peter is a long-running children's TV programme in the United Kingdom, named after a flag.
• Peter Pevensie is one of the main characters in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia
• Peter and the Wolf is a musical story by Sergei Prokofiev written in 1933