Pieter
A masculine name of Dutch origin meaning "rockman" or "rock".
Name Census estimates that about 883 living Americans carry the first name Pieter. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Pieter today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pieter births was 1967 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pieter. 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
883
~ 1 in 388,170 Americans
Peak year
1967
24 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,627
Tracked since 1935
Popularity
Pieter: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pieter from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 159 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pieter 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 Pieter during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pieters live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pieter
Pieter is a masculine given name derived from the Greek name Petros, which means "rock" or "stone". It is the Dutch and Frisian form of the name Peter. The name traces its origins back to ancient Greece and the New Testament of the Bible, where one of Jesus Christ's apostles was named Petros.
The name Pieter was widely used in the Netherlands and surrounding regions during the Middle Ages and Renaissance period. It gained widespread popularity in the 17th century, particularly among the Dutch Protestant community. The Dutch Masters, a group of painters who rose to prominence during the Dutch Golden Age, included several notable figures with the name Pieter.
One of the most famous bearers of the name was Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-1569), a renowned Flemish Renaissance painter known for his vivid depictions of peasant life and landscapes. His son, Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638), also became a successful painter, carrying on his father's artistic legacy.
Another celebrated Dutch artist was Pieter Saenredam (1597-1665), a painter renowned for his meticulously detailed interior scenes of churches and cathedrals. Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (1581-1647) was a prominent Dutch historian, poet, and playwright who played a significant role in shaping the Dutch Golden Age literary tradition.
Pieter Stuyvesant (1592-1672) was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland, which later became New York. He is remembered for his efforts in fortifying and developing the colony, as well as his contentious relationship with the local population.
Beyond the arts and literature, the name Pieter has been borne by notable figures in various fields. Pieter Zeeman (1865-1943) was a Dutch physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1902 for his discovery of the Zeeman effect, a phenomenon that occurs when spectral lines are split by an external magnetic field.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have carried the name Pieter, highlighting its rich cultural heritage and enduring legacy across various domains.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Pieter
People
Pieter + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pieter 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
Pieter: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pieter?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 883 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pieter 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 388,170 US residents.
Is Pieter a common name?
We classify Pieter as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,006 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pieter most popular?
The single biggest year for Pieter was 1967, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pieter is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Pieter a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pieter 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.