Petros
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "rock" or "stone".
Name Census estimates that about 683 living Americans carry the first name Petros. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Petros today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Petros births was 2007 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Petros. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
683
~ 1 in 501,837 Americans
Peak year
2007
20 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,815
Tracked since 1964
Popularity
Petros: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Petros from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 138 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Petros remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Petros by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Petros during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Petros' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Petros, while Illinois, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Petros
Petros is a masculine given name derived from the Greek word "petros," meaning "stone" or "rock." The name has its origins in ancient Greek culture and has been in use since antiquity.
One of the earliest and most famous historical references to the name Petros can be found in the New Testament of the Bible. In the Gospels, Jesus gave the name "Petros" (translated as Peter in English) to one of his apostles, Simon Bar-Jonah, stating that he would be the rock upon which the Christian church would be built.
The name Petros gained popularity in the early Christian era and was widely used among Greek-speaking Christian communities. It was also adopted by various other cultures and languages, leading to variations such as Peter, Pietro, and Piotr.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Petros. One of the earliest was Petros Apsyrtus, a Byzantine philosopher and theologian who lived in the 5th century AD. Another notable figure was Petros Studites, a 9th-century Byzantine monk and theologian known for his defense of icon veneration during the Byzantine Iconoclasm.
In the medieval period, Petros Damian (1007-1072) was an influential Italian Renaissance Catholic reformer and scholar who served as the Cardinal Bishop of Ostia. Petros Movilă (1596-1646) was a Romanian scholar, writer, and Prince of Moldavia, known for his contributions to Romanian culture and education.
During the modern era, Petros Prevelakis (1909-1986) was a Greek writer and scholar who played a significant role in the preservation of Cretan literature and culture. Petros Markaris (born 1937) is a contemporary Greek novelist and playwright, renowned for his detective novels featuring the character Costas Haritos.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Petros, a name with deep roots in ancient Greek culture and a lasting influence across various civilizations and religious traditions.
People
Petros + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Petros as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Petros: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Petros?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 683 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Petros going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 501,837 US residents.
Is Petros a common name?
We classify Petros as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 706 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Petros most popular?
The single biggest year for Petros was 2007, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Petros is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Petros a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Petros in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.