Peterson is an English surname meaning son of Peter, with Peter from Greek petros meaning rock.
Peterson is a surname turned given name — a practice with deep roots in Scandinavian naming culture, where patronymic surnames were formed systematically by appending "-son" to the father's first name. Peterson means, simply, "son of Peter," with Peter itself descending from the Greek Petros, meaning rock or stone. That Greek form was a translation of the Aramaic Cephas, the name Jesus gave to the apostle Simon in the Gospel of John — making Peter, and by extension Peterson, a name with one of the most consequential origin stories in Western history.
As a given name, Peterson has been used across North America and parts of West Africa, where the practice of giving children surnames — either family surnames or prestigious English surnames — as first names became a widespread convention. In Nigeria and Ghana in particular, English surnames adopted as given names signal aspiration and modernity, and Peterson fits neatly into that tradition alongside names like Davidson, Harrison, and Jefferson. The name has a sturdy, presidential-sounding quality that lends it gravitas.
In Scandinavian countries, Peterson and its cognate Petersson remain common surnames borne by millions, with the occasional use as a first name reflecting the region's tradition of using any element of the family naming repertoire more fluidly. The name's weight comes partly from notable bearers across fields — from athletes to politicians to academics named Peterson have populated the twentieth and twenty-first centuries — giving it a broad, secular credibility that needs no particular cultural framing to feel meaningful.