Frequency: (146)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Slovenian and Croatian (northern Croatia): nickname from Slovenian (and Croatian dialect) peti ‘fifth’ or from petek ‘Friday’, perhaps denoting a child born as a fifth child or on a Friday, or (more probably) denoting an ill-fated person, because Friday was considered unlucky in the Middle Ages. This is a very frequent Slovenian surname.
2. Hungarian: either a borrowing of the Slovenian name or from a pet form of the personal name Péter, Hungarian form of Peter.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
