Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Peterson” come from?

Peterson is an English patronymic surname derived from Peter, which comes from Latin Petrus, ultimately from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (petros), meaning "stone" or "rock."

Ancestry of “Peterson”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-sonAdded to a stem to form a patronymic or...
2Middle English-son—
3Middle English-esAlternative form of -yssh; Alternative form of...
4Old English-espossessive marker, indicating that an object...
5Proto-Germanic-as—
6Proto-Indo-European-ēsPrimarily forms adjectival bahuvrīhi compounds
7Proto-Indo-European-ess—
8Proto-Indo-European-osCreates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;...
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -os →