Name calling

 On a web page posted by the Social Security Administration, it is possible to see data on the popularity of baby names throughout history.  So naturally I had to look into the numbers on my own name.  It turns out that when I was born in 1965, the name "Peter" for new babies was near its peak of popularity and was the 39th most popular name given to newborns.  This is only slightly less than its absolute peak ten years earlier in 1955, when it was the 35th most popular name.  In that year 11,003 new babies were named Peter, which was 0.526% of all newborn boys for the year.  Since then, however, the popularity of the named has waned, and in 2020 it reached its lowest point, when Peter was the 215th most popular name.  In the last two years for which data is available, the name has grown very slightly, and in 2025 it was ranked 187.  So perhaps the name of the apostle that was the favorite of Jesus, the rock upon which he built his church, will make a comeback.

The name Peter is at least more popular than one deeply unpopular name for newborns: "Donald". In 2025, the name Donald was the 690th most popular baby name, less popular than names like "Mohammad,” “Kash,” “Brandon,” “Maximus,”  and “Keanu”.