Mattison
Derived from the Latin name Matthaeus, meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 2,500 living Americans carry the first name Mattison. It is a predominantly female name (91.3% of registrations). The average person named Mattison today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mattison births was 2002 (168 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mattison. 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
2.5K
~ 1 in 137,102 Americans
Peak year
2002
168 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2019 SSA rank
#6,534
Tracked since 1985
Census
Mattison in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,230 people with the first name Mattison, which placed it at #6,991 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
#6,991
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,230 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mattison
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mattison is White at 79.7%. The next largest groups are Black (8.0%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Mattison 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 Mattison at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.7% · 1,777
- Black or African American8.0% · 179
- Two or more races5.5% · 122
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 119
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Mattison
Mattison leans heavily female at 91.3% of total registrations, but 222 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mattison as a male name
- Ranked #11,651 in 2019
- 6 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1996 (17 births)
Mattison as a female name
- Ranked #6,534 in 2024
- 18 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2002 (157 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mattison leans strongly female. 1,975 people counted with this name were female (88.6%), compared with 253 male bearers (11.4%).
Popularity
Mattison: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mattison from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,116 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mattison 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 Mattison during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mattisons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. Texas, California, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Mattison, while Mississippi, Minnesota, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mattison
The name Mattison is an English variation of the biblical name Matthew, which derives from the Hebrew name Mattityahu. The Hebrew name Mattityahu can be traced back to the Old Testament and is composed of two elements: "Mattat," meaning "gift," and "Yahu," which is a shortened form of the Hebrew name for God, "Yahweh." Therefore, the name Mattison carries the meaning of "gift of God."
Mattison emerged as a given name in English-speaking countries during the Middle Ages, likely as a result of the influence of the biblical figure Matthew the Apostle, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Matthew, one of the four canonical gospels in the New Testament, is attributed to this apostle, further solidifying the name's association with Christianity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mattison can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This historical record documents a man named Mattison living in Hampshire, England, during the 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mattison. One of the earliest was Mattison Raymond (1158-1228), a French cleric and author who served as the Archbishop of Rouen in Normandy. Another notable figure was Mattison Fitzherbert (1337-1405), an English lawyer and judge who served as the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas during the reign of King Richard II.
In the realm of literature, Mattison Browne (1684-1737) was an English poet and playwright known for his satirical works, including the play "The Disbursed Officer." The name Mattison also found its way into the world of art, with Mattison Haydock (1785-1857), an English painter and engraver who specialized in portraiture and landscape paintings.
Lastly, Mattison Wilbur (1876-1952) was an American educator and author who served as the president of Stanford University from 1916 to 1943, leaving a lasting impact on the institution's growth and development during his tenure.
These historical figures, spanning different eras and fields, highlight the enduring presence of the name Mattison throughout the centuries, carrying the essence of its biblical origins as a "gift of God."
People
Mattison + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mattison 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
Mattison: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mattison?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,500 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mattison 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 137,102 US residents.
Is Mattison a common name?
We classify Mattison as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,542 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mattison most popular?
The single biggest year for Mattison was 2002, when 168 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mattison is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mattison in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,230 people with the name Mattison, or 0.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,991 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 Mattison 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 Mattison?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mattison leans strongly female. 1,975 people counted with this name were female (88.6%), compared with 253 male bearers (11.4%). 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 Mattison?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mattison is White at 79.7%. The next largest groups are Black (8.0%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Mattison most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mattison in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.7% (1,777 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 Mattison in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mattison a female name?
Yes, 91.3% of people registered as Mattison 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.
Is Mattison still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mattison 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 Mattison 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 people are called Mattison?
See how many Americans are named Mattison on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.