Matthew
Hebrew Mattityahu, “gift of Yahweh.”
Popularity, 1880–2025
The tax collector turned evangelist, a top-three staple of the 1980s and 90s.
Matthew appears in the national records from the very first year, 1880. It has ranked among the top 100 names for American boys in every year from 1956 to 2025. It spent 37 years inside the top 10. Its biggest year was 1983, when 50,209 newborn boys received the name, ranking it No. 3 nationally. Its best ranking came in 1995, at No. 2. In 2025 it ranked No. 32 for boys. All told, 1,659,655 Americans have been given the name since 1880.
Related names
Other names that share a story: Mateo
Explore Matthew interactively →By the decade
| Decade | Births | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,068 | No. 116 |
| 1890s | 1,132 | No. 122 |
| 1900s | 1,188 | No. 150 |
| 1910s | 6,228 | No. 148 |
| 1920s | 8,566 | No. 151 |
| 1930s | 6,255 | No. 188 |
| 1940s | 8,760 | No. 176 |
| 1950s | 35,796 | No. 60 |
| 1960s | 105,938 | No. 24 |
| 1970s | 277,727 | No. 6 |
| 1980s | 458,951 | No. 3 |
| 1990s | 351,682 | No. 2 |
| 2000s | 221,631 | No. 3 |
| 2010s | 125,101 | No. 12 |
| 2020s | 44,052 | No. 30 |
Births and rank shown for boys, the sex more often given the name. The Social Security Administration omits name–year combinations with fewer than five births.
🍼 Enjoying this? Buy my baby a diaper
Data: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby-name file, 1880–2025.