Pedro

Meaning and origin

Pedro is the Spanish and Portuguese form of Peter, meaning “stone” or “rock.” It belongs to a name family rooted in Greek Petros and closely associated with the apostle Simon Peter. Its familiar spelling carries that ancient religious name into two major language traditions.

In the New Testament, the Greek name represents the Aramaic Cephas, also meaning “stone.” Jesus gives the name to Simon, who becomes known as Simon Peter. Devotion to the apostle helped spread forms of the name throughout the Christian world.

Pedro shares that history with English Peter, French Pierre, Italian Pietro, and Portuguese and Spanish relatives used across different regions. The forms differ in sound and spelling while preserving the same central meaning.

Pronunciation and related names

Spanish Pedro is pronounced approximately PEH-droh, with two syllables and the stress on the first. The d is softer than the usual English d. Portuguese pronunciation is closer to PEH-droo, with a final vowel that differs from Spanish.

Pedrinho is an established Portuguese familiar form. Petra is a related feminine form in Spanish. The wider family includes Catalan Pere, Dutch Pieter, Polish Piotr, and Greek Petros.

Spanish and Portuguese use the same Pedro spelling even where their spoken forms differ. Its dr sound also distinguishes it from English Peter.

A name in Brazilian history

Pedro was the name of both emperors of Brazil. Their reigns together covered the period from 1822 to 1889, giving the name an important place in the country’s nineteenth-century history.

That imperial association is one part of a much wider Portuguese naming tradition. Pedro also has a substantial history throughout the Spanish-speaking world, where the same spelling belongs to the local form of Peter.

Pedro Martínez and baseball

Pitcher Pedro Martínez gives the name a prominent connection with Dominican and American baseball. He won his first Cy Young Award with the Montreal Expos in 1997, then won again with the Boston Red Sox in 1999 and 2000.

His 1999 season included 313 strikeouts and a pitching Triple Crown. In 2004, he helped Boston win the World Series, ending the club’s long wait for a championship.

Martínez was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. His career makes Pedro familiar on the records of major pitching achievements as well as in the name’s much older religious and royal histories.

Popularity in the United States

Pedro reached its best American rank for boys, number 188, in 1992. Its largest annual count came in 2000, with 1,704 births.

It ranked number 368 in 2015, number 411 in 2020, and number 455 in 2025, continuing a long presence in American naming records.

How popular is Pedro?

In 2025, Pedro ranked #455 among boys in the United States, with 684 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1880; its largest annual count was 1,704 in 2000. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.