Matilde
A feminine name of Germanic origin meaning "mighty battle".
Name Census estimates that about 1,971 living Americans carry the first name Matilde. It is a predominantly female name (93.6% of registrations). The average person named Matilde today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Matilde births was 1927 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Matilde. 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
2.0K
~ 1 in 173,899 Americans
Peak year
1927
74 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
1976 SSA rank
#4,002
Tracked since 1883
Gender
Gender distribution for Matilde
Matilde leans heavily female at 93.6% of total registrations, but 218 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Matilde as a male name
- Ranked #4,749 in 1976
- 7 male births in 1976
- Peak: 1936 (13 births)
Matilde as a female name
- Ranked #4,002 in 2024
- 37 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1927 (65 births)
Popularity
Matilde: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Matilde from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 469 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Matilde remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Matilde 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 Matilde during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Matildes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Matilde, while Colorado, Florida, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 263 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Matilde
The given name Matilde is of Germanic origin, derived from the old German root words "maht" meaning "might" or "strength" and "hild" meaning "battle." It first emerged in the Middle Ages as a feminine form of the male name Matthias or Matthew. The earliest recorded spelling variations include Mathilde, Mathild, and Mahthild.
The name Matilde gained widespread popularity across Europe during the medieval era, particularly in regions under Germanic cultural influence such as modern-day Germany, France, England, and parts of Italy. One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Matilda of Flanders (1031-1083), the wife of William the Conqueror and Queen consort of England.
In religious texts, the name appears in various hagiographies (biographies of saints) and church records. Saint Matilda of Hackeborn (1241-1298), a Cistercian nun from Saxony, was known for her mystical visions and wrote extensively on spiritual matters.
Throughout history, several prominent figures bore the name Matilde. Queen Matilda of England (1102-1167), the daughter of King Henry I, was a claimant to the English throne during the Anarchy, a civil war between her and Stephen of Blois. Matilda of Tuscany (1046-1115), a powerful Italian margravine, played a significant role in the Investiture Controversy between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire.
In the arts, Matilde Serao (1856-1927) was an influential Italian novelist and journalist, known for her contributions to the Verismo literary movement. Matilde Camus (1919-2012), a French feminist and activist, was a key figure in the fight for women's rights and gender equality.
Other notable bearers of the name include Matilde Moisant (1878-1964), an American pioneer in aviation and one of the first women to obtain a pilot's license, and Matilde Montoya (1859-1939), a Mexican-American physician and the first Mexican-American woman to receive a medical degree in California.
People
Matilde + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Matilde 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
Matilde: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Matilde?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,971 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Matilde 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 173,899 US residents.
Is Matilde a common name?
We classify Matilde as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,411 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Matilde most popular?
The single biggest year for Matilde was 1927, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Matilde is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Matilde a female name?
Yes, 93.6% of people registered as Matilde in the SSA data are female. 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.