Matin
A masculine name of Persian origin meaning "daybreak" or "dawn".
Name Census estimates that about 310 living Americans carry the first name Matin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Matin today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Matin births was 2022 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Matin. 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 Matin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
310
~ 1 in 1,105,659 Americans
Peak year
2022
18 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,334
Tracked since 1989
Census
Matin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 714 people with the first name Matin, which placed it at #15,948 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
#15,948
National first-name rank
People counted
714
714 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Matin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Matin is White at 46.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (16.0%). 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 Matin 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 Matin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.4% · 331
- Hispanic or Latino18.3% · 131
- Asian and Pacific Islander16.0% · 114
- Two or more races11.3% · 81
- Black or African American7.7% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Matin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Matin from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 104 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Matin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Matin 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 Matin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Matins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Matin
The given name Matin originates from the Persian and Arabic languages, with its roots traced back to the Middle Ages. In Persian, the word "matin" means "sturdy" or "firm," suggesting strength and resilience. It also has connections to the Arabic word "mateen," which translates to "strong" or "solid."
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Matin can be found in the famous Persian epic poem, Shahnameh, written by the renowned poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century. In this literary masterpiece, Matin is mentioned as the name of a heroic character, highlighting the name's association with valor and bravery.
During the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th centuries, the name Matin gained prominence among scholars and intellectuals in the Middle East. One notable figure bearing this name was Matin al-Basri, a renowned Muslim scholar and jurist who lived in the 8th century and made significant contributions to the study of Islamic jurisprudence.
In the 12th century, Matin al-Din Shirazi, a renowned Persian astronomer and mathematician, rose to prominence. His works on astronomy and celestial mechanics were highly regarded and influential during his time.
Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, Matin Daftari was a prominent Iranian poet and literary figure known for his mastery of classical Persian poetry and his contributions to the revival of the Persian literary tradition.
Another notable figure bearing the name Matin was Matin Kémalzadé, a Turkish diplomat and statesman who played a crucial role in the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in the early 20th century. Born in 1872, he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and was instrumental in shaping Turkey's foreign policy during a critical period in its history.
Throughout its rich history, the name Matin has been associated with strength, resilience, and intellectual prowess, reflecting the cultural and linguistic heritage of the regions where it originated and flourished.
People
Matin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Matin 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
Matin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Matin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 310 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Matin 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 1,105,659 US residents.
Is Matin a common name?
We classify Matin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 314 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Matin most popular?
The single biggest year for Matin was 2022, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Matin is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Matin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 714 people with the name Matin, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,948 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 Matin 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 Matin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Matin leans strongly male. 649 people counted with this name were male (90.9%), compared with 65 female bearers (9.1%). 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 Matin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Matin is White at 46.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (16.0%). 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 Matin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Matin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.4% (331 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 Matin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Matin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Matin 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 Matin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Matin 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 Matin 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 Matin?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Matin at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.