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Etymology •
& Meaning •
Hebrew •
Greek •
Bible •
Names •
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Meaning and etymology of the name Peter
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Peter 
As popular as the name Peter is in our world, in the Bible it is assigned only once, namely to Simon "Barjona" Peter, the apostle of Jesus. The name  (Petra) - a very popular female name in certain parts of the world, the Netherlands for instance - doesn't occur at all in the Bible.
The names Peter (petros) and Petra (petra) are regular Greek words, or even the same word if the genders are disregarded, which they shouldn't be; the feminine variant petra meaning rock and the masculine variant petros meaning stone.
We should note that the word petros could mean rock in Homer's time but in the time of the Bible, the word petros is always used to indicate "a piece or fragment of a rock such as a man might throw," as Zodhiates' Complete Wordstudy Dictionary New Testament explains, "Distinguished from the masculine petros is that petra is a mass of rock while petros is a detached stone or boulder, a stone that might be thrown or easily moved."
In the Bible the word petros does not occur besides the name Peter. The word petra, meaning mountain of a rock, is used about 15 times, and an additional 4 times in the construct  (petrodes), meaning rocky places, or literally rocky shapes (Mark 4:5, Matthew 13:5).
A petra is used to build houses in and on (Matthew 7:24, Luke 6:48) or hew sepulchers in (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:46). It's also used to metaphorize someone's firmness or strength; the Septuagint uses it in 2 Samuel 22:2 in the familiar phrase "The Lord is my petra and my fortress." Paul refers to the Meribah event in 1 Corinthians 10:4, and compares Christ to the petra from which the waters flowed (Exodus 17:6).
Petra denotes a firm foundation and as such it serves as a metaphor for faith in Jesus Christ. Petros denotes a wobbly flint that won't supply any footing and can be tossed away at will. The most remarkable conjunction of these two words petros and petra is in the famous scene of Matthew 16:13-20:
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus asks the disciples what they think of Him. The men rattle off a list of heroes but only Peter submits that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. Jesus responds by saying that he couldn't have obtained that insight from any human teacher, or even have figured it out by himself, but that it was given to him by God. And then He says to Peter: You are petros (a small wobbly and easily movable stone), but on that petra (the unmovable faith that is not from man but from God) I'm going to build My church.
Just how wobbly and easily movable that stone actually is, Peter readily demonstrates by forwarding the daftest proposals, by jumping overboard to walk on water while his faith remains in the boat, and ultimately, by denying that he was ever associated with Jesus after His arrest.
The Bible is unique in many ways but also because there's not a single perfect person in it. If salvation had been up to any one of the major players of the Bible, or even up to ourselves, we would be in deep trouble. But with that great gift of God, the gift upon which Jesus builds His church and grafts His new creation, we can wake up each day and marvel at our fortune to be able to believe so great a promise.
The name Petra means Rock and symbolizes stability. The name Peter means Stone and symbolizes instability.
A related Hebrew name is the name Zur.
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