Mateen
A masculine Arabic name meaning strong, firm, or resolute.
Name Census estimates that about 600 living Americans carry the first name Mateen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mateen today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mateen births was 2012 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mateen. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Mateen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
600
~ 1 in 571,257 Americans
Peak year
2012
31 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,792
Tracked since 1978
Census
Mateen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 653 people with the first name Mateen, which placed it at #17,051 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#17,051
National first-name rank
People counted
653
653 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
35.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mateen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mateen is White at 35.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (33.5%) and Black (18.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Mateen described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Mateen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White35.4% · 231
- Asian and Pacific Islander33.5% · 219
- Black or African American18.4% · 120
- Two or more races10.6% · 69
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4
Popularity
Mateen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mateen from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 195 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Mateen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mateen by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mateen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mateens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Virginia recorded the most babies named Mateen, while Virginia, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 51 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mateen
The name Mateen has its origins in the Arabic language, and it is derived from the word "matīn," which means "solid," "firm," or "strong." This name has been used in various regions of the Middle East and Muslim-majority countries for centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mateen can be found in the literary works of medieval Persian poets and scholars, such as Rumi and Hafez. These poets often used the name Mateen as a metaphor to describe the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
In Islamic tradition, the name Mateen is associated with the concept of steadfastness and unwavering faith. It is believed that the name was given to individuals who demonstrated exceptional courage and determination in their religious beliefs and practices.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Mateen. One of the earliest recorded examples is Mateen ibn Ibrahim al-Bukhari (810-870 CE), a famous Islamic scholar and compiler of the hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). His work, known as the Sahih al-Bukhari, is considered one of the most authentic and influential collections of hadith in Islamic literature.
Another famous bearer of the name Mateen was Mateen al-Ansari (1008-1088 CE), a renowned Sufi mystic and poet from Herat, Afghanistan. His poetic works, which often explored themes of love, spirituality, and the divine, are highly regarded in the Persian literary tradition.
In the 13th century, Mateen al-Din Shirazi (1236-1311 CE) was a prominent Persian astronomer and mathematician. He made significant contributions to the development of astronomical instruments and the calculation of planetary movements.
During the Ottoman Empire, Mateen Pasha (1642-1707) was a highly respected military commander and statesman. He played a crucial role in the expansion and defense of the Ottoman territories, and his leadership skills were widely acclaimed.
In more recent times, Mateen Hafiz (1908-1994) was a renowned Pakistani journalist and writer. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of Urdu journalism and literature in the subcontinent and was awarded the prestigious Sitara-e-Imtiaz, one of Pakistan's highest civilian honors.
People
Mateen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mateen as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mateen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mateen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 600 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mateen going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 571,257 US residents.
Is Mateen a common name?
We classify Mateen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 609 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mateen most popular?
The single biggest year for Mateen was 2012, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mateen is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mateen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 653 people with the name Mateen, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,051 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Mateen in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Mateen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mateen leans strongly male. 631 people counted with this name were male (96.2%), compared with 25 female bearers (3.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Mateen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mateen is White at 35.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (33.5%) and Black (18.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Mateen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mateen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.4% (231 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Mateen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mateen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mateen in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Mateen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mateen in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Mateen can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Mateen?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.