Given name & surname
Pieter
“as solid and strong as a rock”
Pieter is a variant of Peter. One Greek interpretation is “as solid and strong as a rock.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Pieter is a variant of Peter. One Greek interpretation is “as solid and strong as a rock.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Pieter is a variant of Peter. Peter has been associated with Greek, Aramaic, and Scottish Gaelic naming traditions.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In Afrikaans usage, Pieter developed from Petrus.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1935. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Pieter through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,011
- 1,011 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1967
- 24 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #13,408 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 13,408 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 24 in 1967. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,697 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Pieter’s family of names
In Dutch usage, Pieter has a diminutive in Pier. In Afrikaans usage, Pieter developed from the Latin form Petrus. Pieter has a related form in Peter.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Pieter has relatives in 24 languages.
24 related names in 24 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 6
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 41
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- PedroSpanish, Portuguese
- PierreFrench
- PietroItalian
- PieroItalian
- Petarequivalent
- Petrosequivalent
- PetrCzech
- Peruequivalent
Show 33 moreShow fewer
- Kepaequivalent
- Petroequivalent
- Peerequivalent
- PetterSwedish
- PederDanish
- PerDanish
- Petrusroot · Latin, German
- Petrasequivalent
- Պետրոսequivalent
- 彼得Chinese
- ПитерRussian
- Peeterequivalent
- Petruequivalent
- Pjeturequivalent
- Pietariequivalent
- Pēterisequivalent
- Petkoequivalent
- Petteriequivalent
- Peteloequivalent
- Pjetërequivalent
- Petriequivalent
- Peetuequivalent
- Pjeterequivalent
- Pehrequivalent
- ПетарSerbian
- ПётрRussian
- PéturIcelandic
- PéterHungarian
- PereCatalan
- ПетърBulgarian
- PêrBreton
- PeroAragonese
- Πέτροςroot · Ancient Greek
People named Pieter
- Pieter ZeemanDutch physicist (1865–1943)
- Pieter Bruegel the ElderFlemish painter (1526–1569)1525–1569
- Piet MondrianDutch painter (1872–1944)
- P. W. BothaSouth African prime minister (1916–2006)
- Pieter Brueghel the YoungerFlemish painter (1564–1638)
- Pieter HuistraDutch association football player and managerborn 1967
- Pieter de HoochDutch Golden Age painter (1629-1684)
- Pieter Aertsenpainter from the Northern Netherlands (1508-1575)
- Pieter van MusschenbroekDutch naturalist (1692–1761)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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