PETRAS
Petras is a family name that traces its roots to the Greek word petros, meaning “rock” or “stone.” This etymology is inherited through the Christian saint Peter, whom the early Church regarded as the cornerstone upon which the Christian faith was to be built.
From the Greek petros the Latin Petrus entered many European languages. In Lithuanian the form Petras was preserved, and the surname that emerged was usually a patronymic, denoting descent from an ancestor called Petras or Peter. The same root also produced a wide variety of cognates such as Peterson, Peters, Peres, Perez and the Armenian Bedrosian. Over seven hundred variations are documented, and in every European country at least one of these forms appears as a common surname.
In medieval Europe the name proliferated under the influence of the Crusades and the spread of Christianity. Recorded examples of the surname appear in England as early as 1282 with Luke Petre of London, and in 1327 with William Petres of Somerset. Spanish records contain Andres Guillen Perez, dated 1565, while Mexican records list Martina Josepha Perez in 1775, and American records note Antonio Diego Peres in 1864. Crown rolls of England record an earlier spelling, that of Ralph Peter, in 1195. The heraldic description of the Petras coat of arms is a red field with a gold cross flory between four fleur-de-lis.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the surname spread across the Baltic and Slavic lands. The first known bearer of the surname in the German city of Duisburg was a man named Peter, born in 1576, and the name was thereafter adopted by many European languages, including German, Swedish and Polish. In Polish the surname is rendered as Petrusz, while in Hungarian it appears as Petraš or Petraž. Lithuanian bearers often include notable figures such as former President Vytautas Petras Landsbergis, author Petras Klimas, conductor and composer Adolfas Petras Bukšta, and Olympic athlete Vadim Petras.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries the Petras surname found a new diaspora in North America. In the United States it is most frequently encountered in Pennsylvania, where early census records note a sizeable concentration, and in the Midwest, where immigrants from Eastern Europe settled in the late nineteenth century. Canadian records, particularly within the Greater Toronto Area, also document a significant cluster of Petras families, especially in British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta.
In contemporary society the name Petras is often regarded as a symbol of heritage and tradition. Individuals of Lithuanian descent commonly express pride in the name’s historical roots, as well as in the broader cultural identity that it represents.
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Petras in...
Braille
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Morse
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Sorry, we don't have any statistics on this name. That's probably because it's very uncommon in Britain.
Famous people named Petras
- Kim Petras - German singer
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.