Head to head · Boys' names
Luke vs Matthew
#33 vs #32 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Matthew is a whisker ahead (#32 vs #33 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, Matthew leads 4 measures of 6; Luke leads 0.
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: Luke #249, Matthew #130 — Matthew higher
- 1890s: Luke #285, Matthew #140 — Matthew higher
- 1900s: Luke #287, Matthew #167 — Matthew higher
- 1910s: Luke #403, Matthew #152 — Matthew higher
- 1920s: Luke #465, Matthew #172 — Matthew higher
- 1930s: Luke #514, Matthew #201 — Matthew higher
- 1940s: Luke #553, Matthew #193 — Matthew higher
- 1950s: Luke #495, Matthew #113 — Matthew higher
- 1960s: Luke #389, Matthew #42 — Matthew higher
- 1970s: Luke #249, Matthew #11 — Matthew higher
- 1980s: Luke #109, Matthew #3 — Matthew higher
- 1990s: Luke #88, Matthew #3 — Matthew higher
- 2000s: Luke #46, Matthew #6 — Matthew higher
- 2010s: Luke #33, Matthew #16 — Matthew higher
- 2020s: Luke #33, Matthew #34 — Luke higher
Matthew stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Luke took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Luke | Matthew |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #249 | #130 |
| 1890s | #285 | #140 |
| 1900s | #287 | #167 |
| 1910s | #403 | #152 |
| 1920s | #465 | #172 |
| 1930s | #514 | #201 |
| 1940s | #553 | #193 |
| 1950s | #495 | #113 |
| 1960s | #389 | #42 |
| 1970s | #249 | #11 |
| 1980s | #109 | #3 |
| 1990s | #88 | #3 |
| 2000s | #46 | #6 |
| 2010s | #33 | #16 |
| 2020s | #33 | #34 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Luke
- Canada#39
- Scotland#70
Matthew
- Canada#62
- Scotland#79
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Luke
From Lucania — a region of southern Italy
The Greek Loukas is generally read as a short form of Loukanos, 'man from Lucania', the ancient district in the south of the Italian peninsula. A separate popular association ties the name to Latin lux, 'light', because the two look alike; that connection is affectionate rather than linguistic.
Loukas → Lucas → Luk → Luke
How it traveled
The name begins in Greek as Loukas, a name of the kind Romans and Greeks used to mark where a person came from. It traveled into Latin as Lucas and then across Christian Europe attached to the evangelist Luke, credited with the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.
Matthew
gift of the Lord
Mattityahu joins mattat, a gift, with a short form of the divine name: the Lord's gift, or the Lord has given. It is the same construction as Jonathan and Nathaniel, built on the same verb about giving, and the same idea that Greek renders as Theodore and Dorothy. Nothing here is contested. The Greek form Matthaios lost the Hebrew ending and gained a Greek one, and every European version descends from that.
Mattityahu → Matthaios → Mattheus → Matthew
How it traveled
Two men in the New Testament carry versions of this name, and they are the same name in different disguises: Matthew the evangelist and Matthias, chosen by lot to replace Judas among the twelve. Greek simply shortened Mattityahu two different ways, and English inherited both as separate names without noticing they were one.
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
Luke
LOOK
One syllable with a long vowel, as in 'duke' and 'spook' — not the short vowel of 'look'. English, Canadian and Scottish speakers all say it the same way, and the German Lukas or French Luc are near enough that the name survives a border crossing intact.
- Luke — Widely used as the everyday short form of Lucas and Lucian, as well as standing alone as a full given name in its own right.
- Lukey — Informal and mostly domestic, used within families and in early childhood rather than on paper.
Matthew
MATH-yoo
MATH-yoo, two syllables, stress at the front, the th soft as in the word the. Some say MAT-yoo, dropping the th sound entirely, which is common and unremarkable. The double t is a Greek and Latin spelling inheritance and does nothing audible.
- Matt — The front clipped, and what nearly every Matthew is called by the second week of school.
- Matty — The same clipping softened; it belongs to childhood and to family more than to work.
- Teo — Taken from the back rather than the front, which is the Spanish and Italian habit and sounds like a different name.
- Thew — The last syllable alone, rare in America and heard occasionally in Britain.
Who has carried each name
Luke
Luke Perry (b. 1966) — Beverly Hills, 90210 heartthrob
Luke Evans (b. 1979) — The Hobbit and Beauty and the Beast star
Matthew
Matthew McConaughey (b. 1969) — Oscar winner (Dallas Buyers Club)
Matthew Perry (b. 1969) — Friends' Chandler Bing
Matthew Broderick (b. 1962) — Ferris Bueller himself
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Luke if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesLuke is 1 syllable to Matthew's 2
- a name that feels very nowLuke is holding its place on the charts
Choose Matthew if you want…
- a name with more sound in itMatthew runs 2 syllables, Luke 1
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Matt, Matty and Teo
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Luke
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
Luke
Strengths
- One syllable, spelled the way it sounds. Almost nobody asks how to write it, and almost nobody gets it wrong on a form.
- An unbroken written record in English since the medieval Bible translations, and in Greek and Latin for centuries before that.
- Has a ready equivalent in most European languages — Lucas, Luc, Luca, Lukas, Łukasz — so relatives abroad have a version to use.
To consider
- It is already as short as it goes. There is no formal long version to fall back on and no real nickname territory, which suits some families and frustrates others.
- Luke, Lucas, Luca and Lukas all circulate at once. Expect occasional corrections, and expect a room to feel fuller of similar sounds than it strictly is.
- The Star Wars connection is permanent for a great many people, and will draw the odd comment for a lifetime. Most bearers find it wears down to background noise.
Matthew
Strengths
- It has been in continuous ordinary use in English for four centuries without ever becoming a period marker.
- Matt is a complete working name rather than a clipping that needs the long form behind it.
- Every language that received the Gospels has a version of it, so it travels without translation.
To consider
- Mathew with one t is a real alternative spelling, so the double t has to be given more often than the name's familiarity suggests.
- It is a name a great many people already have, and a Matthew will rarely be the only one in a room over a lifetime.
- Matt is so automatic that a family wanting the full name used will have to insist, repeatedly, and will usually lose.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Luke
40%chance Luke feels dated by 2040
Luke sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Matthew
12%chance Matthew feels dated by 2040
Matthew has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Luke and Matthew 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 Luke and Matthew?
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.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Luke and Matthew — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Luke or Matthew — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Luke or Matthew?
- Matthew, in 2025: Matthew ranked #32 with 7,003 babies; Luke ranked #33 with 6,948 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Luke or Matthew?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Luke moved down 2 places; Matthew moved down 2 places.
- Which is the older name, Luke or Matthew?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Luke and Matthew?
- About 310,000 people named Luke are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 1,536,000 people named Matthew are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lukes or Matthews in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Luke. Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Matthew.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Luke, Matthew and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap