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Boy · Hebrew, through Greek
Matthew
Say it: MATH-yoo
Meaning
Hebrew Mattityahu, 'gift of YHWH', through Greek Matthaios.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Common in medieval England and across Europe; Mateo has been among the most popular names in Spanish since the 2000s.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1980s
In the United States
- 1,623,591 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1983, about 1 in 36 boys
- 8,059 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
HebrewEarly ChristianEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishRussianHungarian
The family of the name
Other spellings: Mathew, Mayhew
| French | Matthieu |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Mateo |
| Italian | Matteo |
| Portuguese | Mateus |
| German | Matthäus |
| Polish | Mateusz |
| Russian | Matvey |
| Hungarian | Máté |
Famous bearers
- Matthew the Apostle and evangelist
- Matthew Paris, chronicler
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- Calendars of saints and name days
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.