Peterman
A surname meaning “Peter’s man” — originally a name for someone connected with a Peter, often in a servant or dependent sense.
The #4,087 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 35,529 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is built from Peter plus man, giving the literal sense “Peter’s man.” In historical surname use, this kind of formation often meant a servant, dependant, or follower of someone named Peter rather than a direct “son of” relationship. One 19th-century source also notes a related Germanic form with the same meaning.
History
The surname appears in English records in the medieval period and was later discussed by surname writers as a common name-form built from a personal name plus -man. It is especially at home in English naming patterns, though a German Petermann form is also well known. In some places it may have arisen independently from the same nickname-style pattern rather than from a single family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A historical source notes Peterman as an old English word for a “fish-thief,” but that is a separate vocabulary word, not the usual surname origin.
From the historical record
“-ken [O.L.Ger. -k-in] PETERMAN = Peter's Man (-Servant) : v. Peter. PETERS, Peter's (Son) \ PETERSON, Peter's Son ( ^' *^^^^'^- PETERSEN, the Scand. form of Peterson, q.v. PETHER, a West. Eng. and Corn, form of Peter, q.v.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)