Matty
Diminutive form of the masculine name Matthew, ultimately from the Hebrew name Mattityahu.
Name Census estimates that about 706 living Americans carry the first name Matty. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Matty today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Matty births was 2015 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Matty. 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
706
~ 1 in 485,488 Americans
Peak year
2015
30 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,528
Tracked since 1904
Gender
Gender distribution for Matty
Matty leans heavily female at 82.1% of total registrations, but 161 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Matty as a male name
- Ranked #9,528 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1919 (10 births)
Matty as a female name
- Ranked #9,972 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (28 births)
Popularity
Matty: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Matty from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 198 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Matty remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Matty 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 Matty during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mattys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Matty
The name Matty is a diminutive form of the name Matthew, which has its origins in the Hebrew name Mattityahu. Mattityahu is derived from the Hebrew words "mattan" meaning "gift" and "Yah" referring to the Hebrew God. The name Matthew was later adopted into Greek as "Maththaios" and then into Latin as "Matthaeus."
The name Matthew is of great significance in Christianity as it is the name of one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ and the author of the first Gospel in the New Testament. The Gospel of Matthew, written in the late 1st century AD, provides an account of the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Matty can be found in the 13th century. Matty de Wendene was an English clergyman who served as the Bishop of Winchester from 1234 to 1238. Another notable bearer of the name was Matty Bell, an English painter and engraver who lived from 1580 to 1642.
In the 16th century, Matty Niño de Guevara was a Spanish nobleman and military leader who participated in the conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru. He was born in 1505 and died in 1572.
During the 19th century, Matty Wilks was an American baseball player who played for several teams, including the Providence Grays and the Boston Beaneaters, between 1872 and 1891.
In the 20th century, Matty Banatwala was an Indian cricketer who played for the Indian national team in the 1970s and 1980s. He was born in 1948 and played his last international match in 1984.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Matty. The name has enjoyed enduring popularity across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its rich historical and linguistic heritage.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Matty
People
Matty + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Matty 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
Matty: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Matty?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 706 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Matty 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 485,488 US residents.
Is Matty a common name?
We classify Matty as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 898 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Matty most popular?
The single biggest year for Matty was 2015, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Matty is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Matty a female name?
Yes, 82.1% of people registered as Matty 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.
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.