Matei
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 266 living Americans carry the first name Matei. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Matei today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Matei births was 2019 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Matei. 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.
People living today
266
~ 1 in 1,288,550 Americans
Peak year
2019
19 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,353
Tracked since 1996
Popularity
Matei: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Matei from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 120 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Matei remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Matei 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 Matei during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Matei
The name Matei is a Romanian form of the name Matthew, which is derived from the Hebrew name Mattityahu. Mattityahu is a compound name composed of the Hebrew elements "mattat" meaning "gift" and "Yah" referring to the Hebrew God.
The name Matthew was born by one of the twelve apostles in the New Testament of the Bible. This apostle, also known as Levi, was a tax collector before becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. The name Matei has been used in Romania since the Middle Ages, likely brought to the region by Christian missionaries and the spread of the Bible.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Matei was Matei Basarab, a Prince of Wallachia who ruled from 1632 to 1654. He was a prominent figure in Romanian history, known for his efforts to maintain the autonomy of Wallachia against the Ottoman Empire.
Another notable figure with the name Matei was Matei Corvin, a Romanian prince and voivode of Transylvania who lived in the 15th century. He was renowned for his military prowess and his defense of Transylvania against the Ottoman Turks.
In the 19th century, Matei Millo was a Romanian writer and poet who was a prominent figure in the Romantic movement in Romanian literature. He was born in 1819 and is remembered for his lyrical poetry and his contributions to the development of the Romanian language.
Matei Caragiale, born in 1885, was a Romanian novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He is considered one of the most important Romanian writers of the early 20th century, known for his satirical works that explored the complexities of Romanian society.
Matei Călinescu, born in 1940, is a Romanian-American literary theorist, critic, and professor. He is widely recognized for his contributions to the fields of literary theory and comparative literature, particularly his work on the concept of modernity in literature.
People
Matei + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Matei 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
Matei: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Matei?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 266 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Matei 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 1,288,550 US residents.
Is Matei a common name?
We classify Matei as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 268 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Matei most popular?
The single biggest year for Matei was 2019, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Matei is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Matei a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Matei 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.
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.