Where Does the Peer Surname Come From?

Whether you spell it Peer or Peter, the story begins in the same place. The family name meaning is “From Petrus, "rock"”, the same as for Peter. Before spelling was fixed, Peter was also written Peer. Before spelling was standardised, one family could appear under several forms. Related forms: Per, Petter and Petr.

Peer ranked 8,773 in the 2010 US Census, with 3,736 people answering to the name. Peer sounds close to Poer, so it can help to search both.

A coat of arms belongs to a particular family line rather than to everyone named Peer, so the heraldry linked to Peter is a starting point, not an automatic right. Research your Peer family history with a full surname report and painted coat of arms.