What is "perez"

See Pérez for the Spanish surname and Peretz for the Jewish name.

According to the Book of Genesis, Pharez/Perez was the son of Tamar and Judah, and the twin of Zerah. The name is transliterated to English as both "Perez" ( NIV, ESV, NKJV) and "Pharez" ( KJV). Perez, in Hebrew means "breach or burst forth" and is named after the narrative of his birth as recorded in Genesis 38:29.

Genesis 38 27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins [were] in her womb. 28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that [the one] put out [his] hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. 29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? [this] breach [be] upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez. 30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.

The Book of Ruth lists Perez as being part of the ancestral genealogy of King David, and both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke include him when specifying the genealogy of Jesus.

According to critical scholars, the birth narrative may be an etiological myth explaining the origin of parts of the tribe of Judah.

Perez, as most commonly written in English, is a surname with at least two distinct origins, one of which is Spanish and the other Hebrew.

The surname with Spanish origins, written in Spanish orthography as Pérez, is a patronymic surname meaning "son of Pero/Pedro (Peter)." The surname has a Portuguese counterpart with the same meaning and etymology, Peres, which in Portuguse is written with a final "s" instead of "z", and without the accent.

The surname with a Hebrew origin is transliterated into English as either Perez or Peretz, and is derived from the Hebrew given name פרץ (cf. ), after the biblical character Perez (son of Judah), which in Hebrew means "to breach" or "to burst forth." That biblical character's Hebrew name, however, is transliterated as Farés in the Spanish Christian Bible.

Neither the Spanish surname nor the Hebrew surname correspond to one single lineage each. Instead, both correspond to many unrelated lineages.

Additionally, while the Spanish and Hebrew etymological origins of each are distinct, there are nevertheless those who carry the surname because, in their particular case, the origin of their surname is Spanish Jewish (i.e. Sephardic), and they, as Spanish Jews (or descendants of Spanish Jews) adopted the surname precisely because of its ambiguity.

Pérez as a surname among Spanish Jews (or their descendants) could be considered a typically Christian surname by their non-Jewish Spanish/Hispanic neighbors, yet still a surname in homage of their Jewish roots among Jews. This was helpful during the times of the Spanish Inquisition and its persecution of the Jews (and their baptized New Christian descendants) in Spain and its colonies in Hispanic America.

Among Spaniards/Hispanics, the surname by itself does not necessarily indicate a Jewish heritage. Likewise, among Jews, the surname does not by itself necessarily indicate a Sephardic heritage.

The name rarely occurs as a first name.

Pérez is a surname of either Spanish or Hebrew origin (including a list of persons with the name).

Pérez or Perez may also refer to:

Perez or Pérez is a male given name which may refer to:

• Perez (son of Judah), son of Judah and Tamar from the Old Testament of the Bible
• Perez Ahabwe (born 1961), Ugandan economist and politician
• Perez ben Elijah (died 1295), French tosafist
• Perez Benjamin (1791-1850), farmer and politician in Nova Scotia (in present-day Canada)
• Perez Hilton (born 1978), alias of celebrity blogger Mario Lavandeira
• Perez Morton (1751-1837), American lawyer and revolutionary patriot, Massachusetts Attorney General and Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
• Pérez Prado (1916-1989), Cuban musician (original first name, Dámaso Pérez)
• Perez M. Stewart (1858–1924), New York politician
• Perez Zagorin (1920–2009), American historian and professor