Mattis
A masculine name of Swedish origin meaning "gift of God."
Name Census estimates that about 448 living Americans carry the first name Mattis. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mattis today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mattis births was 2018 (78 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mattis. 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 Mattis with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
448
~ 1 in 765,077 Americans
Peak year
2018
78 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,268
Tracked since 2003
Census
Mattis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 376 people with the first name Mattis, which placed it at #25,264 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
#25,264
National first-name rank
People counted
376
376 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mattis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mattis is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Mattis 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 Mattis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.3% · 272
- Hispanic or Latino14.9% · 56
- Two or more races6.9% · 26
- Black or African American4.3% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Popularity
Mattis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mattis from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 303 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mattis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mattis 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 Mattis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mattis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Mattis, while Virginia, North Carolina, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mattis
The name Mattis is derived from the Hebrew name Mattityahu, which means "gift of God." The name has its roots in the ancient Middle Eastern region and can be traced back to biblical times.
The earliest recorded use of the name Mattis dates back to the 1st century AD, when it was mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible as the name of one of Jesus Christ's disciples, Matthias. In the book of Acts, Matthias was chosen by the remaining eleven apostles to replace Judas Iscariot as the twelfth apostle.
During the Middle Ages, the name Mattis gained popularity across Europe, particularly in Germanic and Scandinavian regions. It was often used as a shortened form of Mattityahu or other similar names, such as Matthäus or Matthias.
One of the earliest notable historical figures to bear the name Mattis was Matthias I (1557-1619), who was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1612 until his death. He was a member of the House of Habsburg and played a significant role in the Counter-Reformation and the Thirty Years' War.
Another prominent individual with the name Mattis was Matthias Claudius (1740-1815), a German poet and writer who is best known for his works such as "The Messenger of Heaven" and "The Watchman's Song."
In more recent history, General James Mattis (born 1950) gained widespread recognition as the 26th United States Secretary of Defense from 2017 to 2019. He had a distinguished military career, serving in the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.
Other notable individuals with the name Mattis include Matthias Sindelar (1903-1939), an Austrian footballer and one of the greatest players of the interwar period, and Matthias Schmid (born 1958), a German violinist and conductor known for his interpretations of Baroque music.
Overall, the name Mattis has a rich history spanning across various cultures and time periods, with its origins rooted in the ancient Hebrew language and biblical references.
People
Mattis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mattis 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
Mattis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mattis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 448 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mattis 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 765,077 US residents.
Is Mattis a common name?
We classify Mattis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 451 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mattis most popular?
The single biggest year for Mattis was 2018, when 78 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mattis is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mattis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 376 people with the name Mattis, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,264 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 Mattis 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 Mattis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mattis leans strongly male. 356 people counted with this name were male (93.0%), compared with 27 female bearers (7.0%). 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 Mattis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mattis is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Mattis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mattis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.3% (272 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 Mattis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mattis a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mattis 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 Mattis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mattis 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 Mattis 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 many Americans are named Mattis?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.