Matthew
given name · Latin script
Meaning: from the male personal name Matthew, from Hebrew Matityahu, literally 'gift of god'
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/mæθjuː/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Matthew is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in China than in any other country. In Australia it is the 24th most common given name.
- AUAustralia≈1 in 220(inferred from the name graph)
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 240
- USUnited States1 in 253
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- China (inferred from the name graph)
- #103 (measured from records)
- 5 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 670 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 220 (inferred from the name graph)
≈2,800,000 people, est.
of 15M given names
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
Australia, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
from the male personal name Matthew, from Hebrew Matityahu, literally 'gift of god'.
Sources 1
- Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]
Attested across 15 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Matthew counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN China | — | ≈2,800,000 est. | ≈1 in 503 | — | Matthew | 98 |
| US United States | #45 | 1,315,151 | 1 in 253 | 1.3M | Matthew | 670 |
| GB United Kingdom | #34 | ≈270,000 est. | ≈1 in 240 | 70 | Matthew | 433 |
| NG Nigeria | #166 | ≈190,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.1K | — | Matthew | 138 |
| MM Myanmar (Burma) | #100 | ≈180,000 est. | ≈1 in 318 | — | Matthew | 22 |
| AU Australia | #24 | ≈120,000 est. | ≈1 in 220 | 156 | Matthew | 371 |
| NZ New Zealand | #35 | ≈16,000 est. | ≈1 in 307 | 10 | Matthew | 235 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; NRS — Baby names Scotland full list (1974–present); Australian national given names (aggregated state BDM); DIA — Baby name popularity (1900–present). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Matthew is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
Matthew is a classic and enduring name of Hebrew origin, meaning 'gift of God.' It is borne by the biblical apostle and author of the first Gospel, who left his life as a tax collector to follow Jesus. The name suggests faithfulness, devotion, and the idea of a cherished gift.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Matthew's calling is a powerful example of God's grace, demonstrating that Jesus's ministry was open to all, including social outcasts and sinners. His immediate and decisive response to leave his former life behind serves as a model of Christian discipleship and conversion.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Matthew is derived from the Hebrew name 'Mattityahu' (מַתִּתְיָהוּ), meaning 'gift of Yahweh' or 'gift of God.' His other name, Levi (לֵוִי), is derived from a Hebrew verb meaning 'to join' or 'to be attached.'
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
In English, from Hebrew Mattathiah ‘gift of Jehovah’, via Latin Matthaeus/Mathaeus; first attested Mathiu, Matheus 1086 DB
as a nameA Dictionary of English Surnames
In Irish, Hebrew name meaning 'God's present'; name of one of the Apostles.
as a nameIrish first names
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Matthew Arnoldb. 1822GBBritish poet and cultural critic (1822–1888)
- Art Carneyb. 1918USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor and comedian (1918–2003)
- Matt LeBlancb. 1967USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor
- Matthew Perryb. 1969USAmerican-Canadian actor (1969–2023)
- Matthew McConaugheyb. 1969USAmerican actor (born 1969)
- Matt Damonb. 1970USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor (born 1970)
- Matthew Lillardb. 1970USAmerican actor (born 1970)
- Matt Hardyb. 1974USnot in their usual nameAmerican professional wrestler (born 1974)
- Tim Howardb. 1979USnot in their usual nameAmerican soccer player (born 1979)
- Channing Tatumb. 1980USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor, dancer and model (born 1980)
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 122 sources across 53 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 1.3M | #15 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 7K | — |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 1.2K | #15 |
| AU Australia | Australian national given names (aggregated state BDM) | 2023 | 156 | — |
| AU Australia | AU state BDM — consolidated top baby names (NSW + SA + QLD) | 2023 | 93 | #85 |
| AU Australia | NSW BDM — Popular baby names (1952–present) | 2023 | 93 | #85 |
| GB United Kingdom | NRS — Baby names Scotland full list (1974–present) | 2024 | 70 | #73 |
| AU Australia | QLD BDM — Top 100 Baby Names Queensland (1960–present) | 2023 | 63 | — |
Reference works 9
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- jeantosti.com — Dictionnaire des noms de famille de France et d'ailleurs (Jean Tosti)
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What are other forms of the name Matthew?
- In the etymology graph, Matias, Mathew and Matheus are forms of the same name in other languages; Matt, Mattie and Matty are recorded short or pet forms.
- What does the name Matthew mean, and where does it come from?
- from the male personal name Matthew, from Hebrew Matityahu, literally 'gift of god'. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].
- Is Matthew a male or female name?
- Matthew is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- In which country does Matthew have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 2.8 million people named Matthew in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled matthew.
- How common is the name Matthew?
- In the United States, the national register counted 1,315,151 people named Matthew in 2020, about 1 in 253 residents.
- How common is Matthew compared with other names?
- In Australia, Matthew is the 24th most common given name of 205,854 given names recorded there.
- How do you pronounce Matthew?
- A machine transcription gives /mæθjuː/ (IPA) for English.
What do you want to know about Matthew?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/matthewThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Matthew” — the 24th most common given name in Australia. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.