Peter peaked in 1957 at rank 39 and has slid to 192 in 2024. Nearly 588,000 American boys have carried this name. The chart shape is the long descent of a mid-century classic that has been in continuous decline for nearly seventy years. Peter sits in the same generational trough as John and Mark, the post-war giants now waiting for revival.
The Greek root and the apostle
Peter comes from Greek Petros, meaning "stone" or "rock," a Greek translation of the Aramaic Kepha given by Jesus to Simon, the apostle who became Saint Peter. The famous biblical wordplay ("You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church") makes the etymology explicit in the source text rather than requiring scholarly reconstruction. Few names have such a transparent origin story.
The name's saint-name register has been continuously active for two thousand years, and Peter has been a top-tier choice across European Christian cultures throughout that period. Notable bearers include Peter the Great (1672-1725), Peter Sellers (1925-1980), Peter O'Toole (1932-2013), and the fictional Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie, 1904) and Peter Parker (Spider-Man, 1962).
The mid-century classic cohort
Peter belongs to the cluster of post-war classics now in deep decline: John, Mark, Paul, Peter, and Stephen. All of these names dominated the 1950s and 1960s and have been sliding for sixty-plus years. The cohort movement is the same generational pattern visible across Alan and Brian, where mid-century saturation needs three to four generations of distance before vintage-revival energy can lift it back.
Phonetically Peter has a clean two-syllable structure with the soft P opening and the bright -ER ending. The rhythm is more friendly than imposing, which is part of why the name has functioned across registers from religious to literary to professional. The standard nickname Pete adds a casual register that softens the formal full name.
The counter-reading
The honest reading of Peter in 2025 is that it has not yet completed its trough cycle. Names like Henry and Theodore have already revived; Peter, John, and Paul have not. The cluster's revival timing depends on cultural variables that are hard to predict, and the names may need another generation. Parents picking Peter today often do so for family reasons. The 1950s decade view shows the original peak context.