Holiday Calendar

National Peter Day

Next celebratedSunday, March 21, 2027

Peter last sat inside the hundred commonest US boys' names in 1996, and the best it has managed since is 102nd. March 21 carries a name 589,588 US boys have been given since 1880.

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Last updated September 6, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEMarch 21
OBSERVED INInternationally
CATEGORYNames
ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Not documented
FIRST OBSERVED
Not documented
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

No founder, no proclamation, no recorded first observance.

No creator, founding year, or establishing record for National Peter Day has been located. A sweep of four competing holiday-listing sites found only one that carries the day at all, and no organisation is documented as running it.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday
INTRO

The apostle whose name slipped out of the top 100

For 117 straight years, Peter was one of the hundred most common boys' names in the United States. That run covers 1880 to 1996 in the Social Security Administration's national data, which counts only births to people who later held a Social Security number. National Peter Day now marks a name that has never climbed back into that hundred.

The best it has managed since is 102nd, in 1997. The count follows the spelling Peter alone. Adding Pete, a registered given name in its own right, extends the run by exactly one year.

The name goes back to the New Testament and is documented at almost every step since. The day carrying it is not documented at all.

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ORIGINS

Peter Day history

INTRODUCTION

English parents naming a boy after the apostle once reached for Piers, not Peter. The Normans brought the name to England in that Old French form. The spelling Peter only began to replace it in the 15th century.

What followed is recorded in unusual detail, because the name kept attaching itself to people and characters who left paperwork behind them. The day now built on it left none.

CHAPTER 01

The rabbit that was a real rabbit

On 4 September 1893 Beatrix Potter sat down to write to Noel Moore, the five-year-old son of her former governess. He was recovering from scarlet fever, so she told him a story about her own pet rabbit, Peter Piper.

At least six publishers turned the manuscript down, Frederick Warne among them, because they wanted something bigger and costlier. Potter's answer was that "little rabbits cannot afford to spend 6 shillings on one book and would never buy it". She paid for the printing herself, and 250 copies came off the press on 16 December 1901.

CHAPTER 02

Barrie hands over the rights

Peter Pan reached the stage in 1904. In 1929 J. M. Barrie was asked to sit on a committee helping Great Ormond Street Hospital buy land for a new wing. He declined, said he hoped to find another way to help, and two months later the board learned he had donated the rights to Peter Pan to the hospital.

CHAPTER 03

A day nobody signed

National Peter Day has no comparable trail. A sweep of the Internet Archive across four competing holiday-listing sites turned up a single page carrying the day, first captured on 30 September 2022. A full-text search of the Federal Register for the exact phrase returns nothing.

No organisation is documented as running it, and no registrar claims it. That is ordinary for a name day, and it is not a reason to doubt that people mark it. It does mean the honest answer to who started this one is that nobody knows.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Peter Day

ENDURANCE

Sixteenth-longest run among the hundred names of 1880.

Twelve of the 100 names in America's 1880 top hundred for boys have never once dropped out of it since. Peter's own run of 117 years ranks sixteenth among those hundred names, well above their median of 60 years.

REVERENCE

The one papal name nobody takes

Vatican News states that no pope has ever chosen the name Peter, out of reverence for the first one. It counts 266 popes in all, of whom only 129 took a new name at their election.

NAMING

A description that turned into a name

Peter began as a byname rather than a birth name. Jesus called Simon by the Aramaic word Cephas, meaning stone, and the New Testament renders it in Greek as Petros.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Peter Day by the Numbers

589,588
US boys recorded as Peter since 1880
11,603
Peters born in 1957, the peak year
1,954
US boys named Peter in 2025

GOOD TO KNOW

National Peter Day Around the World

Sweden

Peter shares his name day, 29 June, with Petra. The Swedish calendar gives 21 March to Bengt.

Norway

One entry on 29 June covers Per, Peter and Petter together. Its 21 March belongs to Bendik, Bengt and Bent.

Denmark

Peter keeps 29 April here rather than the June date the neighbours use. Danish 21 March is Benedictus.

Slovakia

Peter shares 29 June with Pavol and Petra. The Slovak 21 March is Blahoslav.

Austria

Peter turns up three times over, on 29 June, 19 October and 21 December. Austrian 21 March runs Alexandra, Axel, Christian and Emilia.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Peter Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Look up the Peters born in your year

The Social Security Administration publishes national given-name counts going back to 1880. Its full data files let you pull the exact figure for any single year.

READ

Read the letter that started Peter Rabbit

The Victoria and Albert Museum tells the story of the 1893 picture letter and the private printing that followed it. Its article on the book reproduces Potter's own drawings.

SUPPORT

Support a hospital by booking Peter Pan

Great Ormond Street says that thanks to Barrie's gift, all UK performances of Peter Pan support the charity. Its own page sets out how the arrangement works.

CHECK

Check which date your family calendar keeps

Six European name-day calendars carry Peter, and five of them agree on 29 June. Behind the Name lists each country's entry side by side.

SAY

Say the name in another language

Peter travels as Pedro in Spanish and Portuguese, Pierre in French, Pietro in Italian and Pyotr in Russian. Pick the form your own family would have used and see whether anyone answers to it.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Peter Day?

1 / 6

The name Peter translates a byname given in which language?

Answer

No. It is an unofficial observance rather than a public holiday, so offices, schools and banks stay open as normal.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

12sources
6primary records
2independently dated
Primary records
Social Security Administration
Popular Baby Names: national data files
Year-by-year counts of US given names since 1880, with a five-birth minimum.
View source
Social Security Administration
Top names of the 1960s
The agency's own decade table, which lists Peter 42nd with 92,418 births.
View source
Vatican News2025
The history of the names of the Successors of Peter
Why popes change their names, and the one name none of them has taken.
View source
Victoria and Albert Museum2024
Peter Rabbit: the tale of 'The Tale'
Potter's 1893 picture letter, her six-shilling remark, and the 250-copy private printing.
View source
Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity
The Peter Pan story
The hospital's own account of Barrie's 1929 gift of the play's rights.
View source
Federal Register
Document search for the phrase National Peter Day
A full-text search of US federal documents, returning no results for the phrase.
View source
Additional coverage
Behind the Name
Meaning, origin and history of the name Peter
The Greek and Aramaic derivation, the Piers spelling shift, and per-country name days.
View source
Behind the Name
Swedish Name Days
Sweden's name-day calendar, listed day by day through the year.
View source
Behind the Name
Norwegian Name Days
Norway's name-day calendar, listed day by day through the year.
View source
Behind the Name
Danish Name Days
Denmark's name-day calendar, listed day by day through the year.
View source
Behind the Name
Slovak Name Days
Slovakia's name-day calendar, listed day by day through the year.
View source
Behind the Name
Austrian Name Days
Austria's name-day calendar, listed day by day through the year.
View source
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