# Peters (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/peters/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

An English surname originating as a patronymic derived from the given name Peter.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 137,513 |
| US rank (2010) | 205 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 2,245 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.4% (134,231 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Peters in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 83% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 10% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.0% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Peters in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Australia.

## People named Peters

- Evan Peters, American actor (born 1987)
- Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer (born 1948)
- Susan Peters, American actress (1921–1952)
- Jean Peters, American actress (1926–2000)
- Gary Peters, American politician and naval officer (born 1958)
- Clarke Peters, American actor, singer, writer and director
- Brock Peters, American actor (1927–2005)
- Roberta Peters, American operatic soprano (1930-2017)
- Thomas J. Peters, American writer on business management practices
- Molly Peters, British actress and model (1942-2017)
- George Henry Peters, American astronomer and photographer (1863–1947)
- Violetta Oblinger-Peters, Austrian canoeist

and 24 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Petrus, Petras, Peeters, Pietras, Petros, Pieters, Peterson, Petersen, Pedersen, Pederson, Petrick, Petterson.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.