Peters (surname) Peters (surname) Peters is a patronymic surname (Peter's son) of Dutch, English and Low German origin. It can also be an English translation of Gaelic Mac Pheadair (same meaning) or an Americanized form of cognate surnames like Peeters or Pieters.. As of 2014, 34.4% of all known bearers of the surname "Peters" were residents of the United States (frequency 1:2,037), 23.6% of Germany (1:658), 6.4% of the Netherlands (1:511), 5.4% of Canada (1:1,328), 5.2% of Nigeria (1:6,574), 4.8% of England (1:2,261), 3.9% of South Africa (1:2,708), 3.1% of Australia (1:1,482), 1.2% of Togo (1:1,226), 1.1% of Sierra Leone (1:1,214) and
Mac and Mc together in print two publications on filing rules, one covering that "word-by-word" convention, and another prepared in 1980 that is "letter-by-letter". A 1998 book attributes the changes to the rules to computer informatics, and notes the Mac/Mc change as its first example. 1982's "Scottish Roots", a guide for family history researchers, warns that older Scottish records do not in fact follow this convention, unlike contemporary telephone directories. A 2001 book of "New York Times" theatre reviews sorts Mc names as if spelled Mac. A 2002 official document for the State of Vermont recommends explicitly no special treatment for Mac and Mc.