Pete

Meaning: Stone, rock
Origin: Variant of Peter (from Ancient Greek)

Boy's name · #2382 in the US (2025) · Vintage

Popularity over time

Pete is an heirloom: its strongest era came around 1908, when it ranked #173. It has thinned since but never left the records — about 44,000 boys since 1880, ranked #2382 today. In all that time it has never once missed a year of the national records.

Across the states

See where Pete is more common.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 2 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Famous Petes

Pete Seeger — American folk singer (1919–2014)
Pete Sampras — American tennis player (born 1971)
Pete Buttigieg — American politician (born 1982)
Pete Conrad — American astronaut and lunar explorer (1930–1999)
Pete Best — British musician, former member of the Beatles

In stories & tradition

Pete — Kingdom Hearts (video game series)
Pete Ross — Smallville (TV series)
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell — Top Gun (film)

What Petes become

Among 1,373 notable people named Pete:

Sports figures appear 2.46× more often than among typical names — e.g. Pete Sampras, American tennis player (born 1971).

Similar names: Morris · Perry · Nate · Johnnie · Gene · Noble

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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