Mattew
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,167 living Americans carry the first name Mattew. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mattew today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mattew births was 1987 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mattew. 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
1.2K
~ 1 in 293,706 Americans
Peak year
1987
58 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,812
Tracked since 1925
Popularity
Mattew: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mattew from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 433 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mattew 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 Mattew during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mattews live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Michigan recorded the most babies named Mattew, while Texas, Illinois, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mattew
The name Matthew is derived from the Hebrew name Mattityahu, which means "gift of Yahweh" or "gift of God". It is a biblical name that can be traced back to the apostle Matthew, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. The name gained popularity after the spread of Christianity across Europe and the Middle East.
The earliest recorded use of the name Matthew can be found in the New Testament of the Bible. Matthew, also known as Levi, was a tax collector before becoming one of the apostles. The Gospel of Matthew, one of the four canonical gospels, is traditionally attributed to him.
In the Middle Ages, the name Matthew was widely used among European Christians, particularly in England and France. During this period, several notable figures bore this name, including Matthew Paris (c. 1200-1259), an English Benedictine monk and chronicler, and Matthew of Westminster (c. 1300-1360), an English chronicler and monk.
In the Renaissance period, Matthew Tindal (c. 1657-1733) was an English philosopher and writer who advocated for deism, a belief in the existence of God based on reason and observation rather than revelation. Another notable figure was Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), an English navigator and cartographer who was the first to circumnavigate Australia and identify it as a continent.
During the Reformation, Matthew Zell (c. 1477-1548) was a German Protestant reformer and one of the first supporters of Martin Luther. In the 17th century, Matthew Hale (1609-1676) was an influential English lawyer and judge, renowned for his legal treatises and commitment to justice.
Other famous individuals with the name Matthew include the American playwright Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), known for his poetry and literary criticism, and Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), an American naval officer and oceanographer who pioneered the study of ocean currents and winds.
People
Mattew + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mattew 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
Mattew: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mattew?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,167 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mattew 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 293,706 US residents.
Is Mattew a common name?
We classify Mattew as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,227 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mattew most popular?
The single biggest year for Mattew was 1987, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mattew is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Mattew a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mattew 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.