2,343 Global PETERKIN Family Members

PETERKIN Family History

Recorded as Peterken and Peterkin, this is an Anglo-Scottish surname. It is a medieval diminutive of the given name Peter, itself coming from the Greek 'petros', meaning a rock. This name was extremely popular throughout Christian Europe in the Middle Ages, in the time of the religious revival, as it had been bestowed by Christ as a byname on the apostle Simon bar Jonah - "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church", (Matt. 16:18). The personal name, in its Latinized form of Petrus, appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, whilst Ralph Peter of Hertfordshire, is recorded in the Knight Templar rolls of 1195 and he was the first recorded bearer of the surname in England.