Peer

Boys' name

Variant of Per

Peer has been given to 24 babies in the U.S. since 1953. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1961, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Peer, 1970

1 in 515,000

Peer over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Peer: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Per

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Peer means

Peer is a variant of Per.

Origin, language, and formation

Peer is used in Danish and Norwegian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Per.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 24 boys were recorded with the name Peer between 1953 and 1970. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1961; its best national rank was #3,580 in 1961.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Peer?

Peer had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1970, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1970: 1 in 515,000; 7 of 3,606,302 births
Among boys only: 1 in 265,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1970: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 357,101 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Peer sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1970 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 357,101 children born in 1970 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Peer. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Peers were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Peer was born before 1961 — so the typical Peer is around 64 today.

Median birth year: 1961; About 64 years old
Biggest decade: 1960s; 50.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 24; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1960s — 50.0% of all recorded uses (12).

Is Peer rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1961 (7)
Years since peak: 64; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 40.0% average annual change
Best rank ever: #3,580; 1961

Spellings of Peer

Peer is not the most common spelling — Peter is, with 50.4% against Peer's <0.01%.

Peter50.4%589,588
Lee20.0%233,627
Pedro8.0%94,083
Perry6.5%76,044
Pete3.7%43,530
Reed3.1%36,056
Iker1.6%18,921
Omer0.76%8,856

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Peer around the world

Where Peer ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
2000–2000
#3,036
in 2000

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Peer by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #3,580; 1961
Peak year: 1961; 7 that year
First recorded: 1953
Last recorded: 1970
All-time count: 24
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Peer

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Aseer Dheer Neer Suveer Symeer Almeer Ikeer Meer Maheer Jahseer Yaseer Safeer Jayveer Tajveer Rameer Saveer Azmeer Abeer Tegveer Anveer Tameer Ahmeer Nameer Jaseer

Sibling names for Peer

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Jeanetta Juli Carleen Mimi Juliann Danita Lorri Donita

For a brother

Mitch Art Toney Lenny Lindsay Tod Ward Rod

Explore around Peer

Top names of 1961, Peer's peak year The 1960s in full Other names that peaked in 1961 Boys' names starting with P Peter Variations & Nicknames Short Danish Boy Names