Peters is a patronymic surname (Peter's son) of Low German, Dutch, and English origin. It can also be an English translation of Gaelic Mac Pheadair (same meaning) or an Americanized form of cognate surnames like Peeters or Pieters.
Geographical distribution
As of 2014, 34.4% of all known bearers of the surname Peters were residents of the United States (frequency 1:2,037), 23.6% of Germany (1:658), 6.4% of the Netherlands (1:511), 5.4% of Canada (1:1,328), 5.2% of Nigeria (1:6,574), 4.8% of England (1:2,261), 3.9% of South Africa (1:2,708), 3.1% of Australia (1:1,482), 1.2% of Togo (1:1,226), 1.1% of Sierra Leone (1:1,214) and 1.0% of Belgium (1:2,220).
In Germany, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:658) in the following states: 1. Schleswig-Holstein (1:209) 2. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1:220) 3. Hamburg (1:293) 4. Lower Saxony (1:364) 5. North Rhine-Westphalia (1:402) 6. Bremen (1:471)
In the Netherlands, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:511) in the following provinces: 1. Gelderland (1:198) 2. Limburg (1:215) 3. Bonaire (1:322) 4. North Brabant (1:433)
People
Academics
Achim Peters (born 1957), German obesity specialist
Anne Peters (born 1964), German-Swiss legal scholar
Arno Peters (1916–2002), German filmmaker & historian. Peters map projection. Bernard Peters (1910–1993), German nuclear physicist Brett Peters, American industrial engineer and college dean C. J. Peters (Clarence James Peters; born 1940), American virologists and tropical physician Christian August Friedrich Peters (1806–1880), German astronomer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters (1813–1890), German-born American astronomer David Peters (professor), American physician and healthcare academic Dennis G. Peters (1937–2020), American analytical chemist E. L. Peters (1916–1987), British social anthropologist (1869–1948), German prehistorian Edward Peters (scholar) (born 1936), American historian of medieval Europe Evan Peters (born 1987), American actor Francis Edward Peters (1927–2020), American scholar on Middle Eastern religions Frank Peters (college president) (1920–1987), Canadian university president George Henry Peters (1863–1947), American astronomer James A. Peters (1922–1972), American herpetologist James L. Peters (1889–1952), American ornithologist Jan Peters (computer scientist) (born 1976), German computer scientist Jan Peters (engineer), British engineer Jan-Michael Peters (born 1962), German cell and molecular biologist John Durham Peters (born 1958), communications professor John F. Peters (1884–1969), American electrical engineer and inventor Keith Peters (physician) (born 1938), Welsh physician and academic Klaus Peters (1937–2014), German mathematician and publisher Kurt Peters (1897–1978), Austrian chemist Mary Peters Fieser (1909–1997), née Mary Peters, American chemist Michael Peters (psychologist) (born 1942), Canadian psychologist Michael Adrian Peters (born 1948), New Zealand education academic Norbert Peters (engineer) (1942–2015), Austrian-German chemical engineer Norbert Peters (priest) (1863–1938), German Catholic biblical scholar Otto Peters (born 1926), German education academic Pam Peters (born 1942), Australian linguist Paul Peters (publisher) (born 1982), American academic publisher Paul Evan Peters (1947–1996), American librarian Peter J. Peters (born 1957), Dutch cellular immunologist Raymond Peters (1918–1995), British polymer chemist Reinhard Peters (1926–2008), German operatic conductor, violinist and academic teacher Richard Stanley Peters (1919–2011), British philosopher Robert Henry Peters (1946–1996), Canadian ecologist and limnologist Rudolph Peters (1889–1982), British biochemist Rudolph F. Peters (born 1943), Dutch scholar of Islam Steve Peters (psychiatrist) (born 1953), English sports psychiatrist Stormy Peters, American information technologist Thomas Minott Peters (1810–1888), American lawyer, Alabama Chief Justice, and botanist Tim Peters (software engineer), American software developer Vera Peters (1911–1993), Canadian oncologist and clinical investigator Wallace Peters (1924–2018), British entomologist and parasitologist Wilhelm Peters (1815–1883), German explorer and naturalist William John Peters (1863–1942), American explorer and geologist