Head to head · Boys' names
Grady vs Matthias
#373 vs #372 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Matthias is a whisker ahead (#372 vs #373 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Matthias leads 4 measures of 6; Grady leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Grady #583, Matthias #861 — Grady higher
- 1890s: Grady #264, Matthias #1041 — Grady higher
- 1900s: Grady #225, Matthias — — Grady higher
- 1910s: Grady #206, Matthias #1623 — Grady higher
- 1920s: Grady #233, Matthias #2560 — Grady higher
- 1930s: Grady #245, Matthias #2882 — Grady higher
- 1940s: Grady #291, Matthias #2789 — Grady higher
- 1950s: Grady #366, Matthias #3071 — Grady higher
- 1960s: Grady #458, Matthias #1930 — Grady higher
- 1970s: Grady #574, Matthias #1867 — Grady higher
- 1980s: Grady #741, Matthias #1360 — Grady higher
- 1990s: Grady #806, Matthias #1297 — Grady higher
- 2000s: Grady #512, Matthias #930 — Grady higher
- 2010s: Grady #356, Matthias #577 — Grady higher
- 2020s: Grady #395, Matthias #444 — Grady higher
Grady stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Grady | Matthias |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #583 | #861 |
| 1890s | #264 | #1041 |
| 1900s | #225 | — |
| 1910s | #206 | #1623 |
| 1920s | #233 | #2560 |
| 1930s | #245 | #2882 |
| 1940s | #291 | #2789 |
| 1950s | #366 | #3071 |
| 1960s | #458 | #1930 |
| 1970s | #574 | #1867 |
| 1980s | #741 | #1360 |
| 1990s | #806 | #1297 |
| 2000s | #512 | #930 |
| 2010s | #356 | #577 |
| 2020s | #395 | #444 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Grady
noble, illustrious
The Irish surname Ó Grádaigh is built on grádha, 'noble' or 'illustrious'. The meaning belongs to the ancestor the family was named for, not to the name as a word in its own right.
Ó Grádaigh → O'Grady → Grady
How it traveled
Grady comes from Ó Grádaigh, an Irish surname long associated with Limerick and County Clare, anglicized as O'Grady when English spelling was imposed on Gaelic names. Irish emigration carried it to the United States in the nineteenth century, and there the apostrophe fell away and the surname started appearing in the given-name column — part of a broad American habit of promoting family names to first names.
Matthias
Gift of Yahweh
From Hebrew Mattityahu, from mattath 'gift' and the divine name. Matthew comes from the same Hebrew source through a slightly different Greek spelling, which is why the two names look and mean so much alike.
Mattityahu → Matthias (Greek) → Matthias (Latin) → Mathias → Matthias
How it traveled
The Hebrew name Mattityahu reached Greek in two shapes, Matthaios and Matthias, and both survived. Matthias is the one used in the Acts of the Apostles for the man chosen by lot to fill the twelfth place after Judas, which fixed the spelling in Latin scripture and sent it across Christian Europe.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Grady
GRAY-dee
Stress on the first syllable. English speakers read it correctly on sight, and the spelling follows the sound with nothing left over.
- Grady — Almost always used in full; at two syllables it needs no shortening, and most bearers never acquire one.
- G — Informal, from friends and teammates rather than family; common to many G- names rather than specific to this one.
Matthias
muh-THY-us
That is the usual English reading. German and Scandinavian speakers say mah-TEE-ahs, and Spanish Matías is mah-TEE-as; families with those ties often keep their own version, so it is worth deciding early which one you will offer when introducing him.
- Matt — The everyday short form in English, shared with Matthew and Matteo; long established as a standalone given name too.
- Matty — Informal and affectionate, common in childhood and among family.
- Thias — Used in German-speaking families, clipped from the back of the name rather than the front.
- Mat — A one-t spelling of the short form, less common than Matt.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Grady if you want…
- a name holding steadyGrady is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesGrady is 2 syllables to Matthias's 3
- a newer arrivalGrady entered the US charts in 1887
Choose Matthias if you want…
- a name on the way upup 54 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMatthias runs 3 syllables, Grady 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Matt, Matty and Thias
- a long American recordMatthias was already in use when US records began in 1880
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Grady
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and read correctly at first glance — no dictation over the phone, no alternate spellings to fend off.
- An unbroken record in American use since the nineteenth century, so it belongs to no single decade and dates a child to none.
- Carries a documented Irish surname line, Ó Grádaigh, for families who want an ancestral thread rather than an invented one.
To consider
- Grady is close enough to Brady and Grace that it gets misheard in noisy rooms and over the phone — not misspelled, just mistaken. Most bearers learn to repeat it once and move on.
- It resists shortening. There is no established affectionate form, so a child gets one register at home and at school rather than a formal name and a soft one.
- In the US the record is essentially all boys. A girl named Grady would not be unheard of among surname-names, but she would be doing something the statistics have not yet caught up with.
Matthias
Strengths
- Ready-made short forms: Matt and Matty are already understood everywhere in English, with no explaining required.
- Recognizable across German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Hungarian and Spanish-speaking families, in forms close enough to be identified as the same name.
- A documented line running from Hebrew through Greek and Latin into modern European languages, unbroken for two thousand years.
To consider
- It is constantly heard as Matthew, and Matt belongs to both. If the full form matters to you, expect to correct people for years — and to hear him introduced as Matt anyway.
- Two spellings compete, Matthias and Mathias, and two pronunciations do as well: muh-THY-us in English, mah-TEE-as in German and Scandinavian mouths. Neither is wrong, which is precisely why both keep coming back.
- Its recent American growth means most people carrying it here are still young; the name reads as newer in the US than its long European history suggests.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Grady and Matthias in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Grady and Matthias?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names ending in -y
- The best baby names starting with G
- Eight-letter names with presence
- Names with a double letter
- all guides
Where Grady and Matthias each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Grady or Matthias — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Grady or Matthias?
- Matthias, in 2025: Matthias ranked #372 with 854 babies; Grady ranked #373 with 851 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Grady or Matthias?
- Matthias. Over the last five years Grady moved up 26 places; Matthias moved up 54 places.
- Which is the older name, Grady or Matthias?
- Grady entered the US charts in 1887; Matthias was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Matthias is the older name.
- How many people are named Grady and Matthias?
- About 33,500 people named Grady are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 13,000 people named Matthias are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Gradys or Matthiass in the classroom?
- Grady will almost certainly be the only one in school. Matthias will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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