Jordan Peterson's Real Name: Jordan Bernt Peterson

Quick answer: Jordan Peterson's documented full name is Jordan Bernt Peterson. The Canadian Encyclopedia records that form and dates his birth to June 12, 1962, in Edmonton, Alberta (The Canadian Encyclopedia).

Real name and early life

He is known professionally as Jordan Peterson or Jordan B. Peterson. The Canadian Encyclopedia says he was raised in Fairview, Alberta, the son of Walter, an elementary-school teacher and administrator who also served as Fairview's fire chief, and Beverley, head librarian at the local campus of Grande Prairie College. He studied political science at Grande Prairie College and the University of Alberta, then earned a PhD in psychology at McGill University in 1991.

Career highlights

He taught in the psychology department at Harvard University from 1993 to 1997, then at the University of Toronto, where The Canadian Encyclopedia says he actively taught until 2017. His official site lists him as professor emeritus. His first book, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief (1999), examined how myths and stories guide human life; he later hosted a TVO series based on it. In 2013 he began posting lectures on YouTube. In 2016 he posted videos criticizing Canada's Bill C-16, a proposed amendment adding gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination, and said he would not "recognize another person's right to determine what pronouns I use to address them." The Canadian Encyclopedia records that the bill passed in 2017 and that the stance drew both protests and a large online following. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (2018) became a best seller; Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life followed in 2021. His official site says those later books have sold more than seven million copies. He resigned from the University of Toronto in 2022. In a related professional matter, The Canadian Encyclopedia says the Ontario College of Psychologists, acting on complaints about his social-media posts, asked him to complete a coaching program; after court proceedings went against him, he agreed in August 2024 to undergo social-media training. He later helped found the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship and, with his daughter, Peterson Academy, a non-accredited online school.

Name notes for searchers

Jordan Bernt Peterson is the documented full name; he publishes as Jordan Peterson and Jordan B. Peterson. Searchers looking for the author of 12 Rules for Life, or for a former University of Toronto psychology professor, are usually aiming at the same person.