Mattan
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "gift" or "gift from God".
Name Census estimates that about 50 living Americans carry the first name Mattan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mattan today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mattan births was 2007 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mattan. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Mattan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
50
~ 1 in 6,855,087 Americans
Peak year
2007
10 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2016 SSA rank
#10,358
Tracked since 1993
Popularity
Mattan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mattan from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 20 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mattan 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 Mattan 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 Mattan
The name Mattan is of Hebrew origin, deriving from the Biblical Hebrew word "mattān," which means "gift." It is a masculine given name that has been in use for centuries, primarily among Jewish communities.
In the Hebrew Bible, the name Mattan appears in several instances. One notable mention is in the Book of Jeremiah, where Mattan is listed as a prince of Judah during the reign of King Zedekiah. This reference dates back to the 6th century BCE.
Another early recorded use of the name Mattan can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism compiled between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE. Mattan is mentioned as the name of a renowned Jewish scholar and sage who lived during the Mishnaic period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mattan. One of the earliest was Mattan ben Eleazar, a Jewish scholar who lived in the 2nd century CE and was a student of the famous Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi.
During the Middle Ages, Mattan ben Solomon, a 10th-century Jewish philosopher and poet from Spain, gained recognition for his contributions to the field of Jewish philosophy.
In more recent times, Mattan Vilnai (1896-1975) was an Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.
Another notable figure was Mattan Kashri (1923-2005), an Israeli writer and Holocaust survivor who wrote extensively about his experiences during World War II.
Mattan Cohen (born 1989) is a contemporary Israeli footballer who has played for various clubs in Israel and Europe.
While the name Mattan has its roots in Hebrew and Jewish culture, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in Israel and among Jewish communities worldwide.
People
Mattan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mattan 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
Mattan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mattan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 50 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mattan 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 6,855,087 US residents.
Is Mattan a common name?
We classify Mattan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 51 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mattan most popular?
The single biggest year for Mattan was 2007, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mattan is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Mattan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mattan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mattan 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 Mattan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mattan 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 Mattan 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have Mattan as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Mattan, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.