Perez is a surname with at least two distinct origins: One is a Spanish surname meaning "son of Pero, Pedro, or Peter." The other is a Hebrew surname Peretz, derived from Perez (son of Judah) (Hebrew Genesis 38:29), meaning to "breach or burst forth." The Hebrew name Perez is transliterated Farés in the Spanish Christian Bible.

The name rarely occurs as a first name, as in the case of Perez Prado who dropped his original first name, Domaso Prrez, and became known by his paternal and maternal surnames "Prrez Prado."