Peter

Jesus Christ had several apostles in the New Testament of the Bible. One of them was named Simon. However, he shortly changed his name to Peter. That apostle made the name common throughout the Christian world.

Peter comes from the Greek "Petros," meaning "stone." Yet, when it entered England during the Norman Conquest, the Old French Piers was most common. Peter replaced it by the fifteenth century. Between the tenth and fifteenth centuries, saints have worn the name. These include eleventh-century reformer St. Peter Damian. After the fifteenth century, the Russian tsar Peter the Great became another famous namesake.

In the United States, Peter was a top 100 name through the 1990s. It ranks just below the top 200 today. That puts it among the most classic of boys' names. The name is also declining in other nations though it  remains on the charts in Hungary, England and Wales, and Slovenia. 

Throughout its long history, Peter associated itself with several famous characters, from Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit to the nursery rhyme Peter Piper to Spiderman's alter-ego Peter Parker. 

Parents are more likely to use other Biblical classics like David and Adam than Peter today. Yet, this literary, Biblical, and timeless name can work in any time period. 

STYLES:

Artistic, Biblical, Timeless

SISTERS:

Theresa, Jane, Laura, Alice, Marian, Helen, Ruth, Emily

BROTHERS:

Robert, Mark, Thomas, David, Philip, Allen, Gregory, Stephen

ALTERNATIVES:

Walter, Pedro, Roger, Pattin, Titus, Cesar, Heath, Oscar

What do you think about Peter?