Head to head · Boys' names
Mason vs Matthew
#39 vs #32 in 2025
Matthew is a whisker ahead (#32 vs #39 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Matthew is holding its place on the charts, Mason is stepping back from its peak.
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 3 measures of 6; Mason 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: Mason #472, Matthew #130 — Matthew higher
- 1890s: Mason #478, Matthew #140 — Matthew higher
- 1900s: Mason #488, Matthew #167 — Matthew higher
- 1910s: Mason #529, Matthew #152 — Matthew higher
- 1920s: Mason #565, Matthew #172 — Matthew higher
- 1930s: Mason #654, Matthew #201 — Matthew higher
- 1940s: Mason #690, Matthew #193 — Matthew higher
- 1950s: Mason #792, Matthew #113 — Matthew higher
- 1960s: Mason #778, Matthew #42 — Matthew higher
- 1970s: Mason #550, Matthew #11 — Matthew higher
- 1980s: Mason #390, Matthew #3 — Matthew higher
- 1990s: Mason #123, Matthew #3 — Matthew higher
- 2000s: Mason #46, Matthew #6 — Matthew higher
- 2010s: Mason #6, Matthew #16 — Mason higher
- 2020s: Mason #27, Matthew #34 — Mason higher
Matthew stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Mason has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Mason | Matthew |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #472 | #130 |
| 1890s | #478 | #140 |
| 1900s | #488 | #167 |
| 1910s | #529 | #152 |
| 1920s | #565 | #172 |
| 1930s | #654 | #201 |
| 1940s | #690 | #193 |
| 1950s | #792 | #113 |
| 1960s | #778 | #42 |
| 1970s | #550 | #11 |
| 1980s | #390 | #3 |
| 1990s | #123 | #3 |
| 2000s | #46 | #6 |
| 2010s | #6 | #16 |
| 2020s | #27 | #34 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Mason
- Scotland#41
- Canada#44
- England & Wales#63
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
Mason
stoneworker, stonemason
The surname comes straight from the medieval occupation, and the trade word itself traces back through Old French to a Germanic root tied to making or building.
maçon (Old French) → Mason (English surname) → Mason (given name)
How it traveled
Mason is an English occupational surname, from Old French maçon, a worker in stone — a word that reached the language after 1066 and stuck fast, because cathedrals, castles and city walls kept masons in steady work. As a hereditary surname it was carried by families all over medieval and early modern England.
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
Mason
MAY-suhn
Stress on the first syllable. Because the word is ordinary English, almost no one hesitates over it, and it survives phone calls and roll-call intact.
- Mase — The standard informal short form in English; used by family and friends rather than on paperwork.
- Mace — A less common spelling of the same short form; occasionally seen as a standalone name.
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
Mason
No documented entry for Mason yet.
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 Mason if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMason is stepping back from its peak
- a name that charts abroad tooMason is on the national lists of Scotland, Canada and England & Wales
- a name that feels very nowMason is stepping back from its peak
Choose Matthew if you want…
- 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 85% for Mason
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
Mason
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and read correctly on sight — the trade word is already in every English speaker's vocabulary.
- One settled pronunciation, with no regional split to explain.
- Charts in Scotland, Canada and England & Wales as well as the US, so it travels across the English-speaking world.
To consider
- The word also names the Freemasons, and adults sometimes make that connection first. It is a mild association, not a heavy one.
- This name's wave is very recent, so nearly everyone who has it is a child or young teenager; there are few grown Masons to grow into.
- Surname-first names of this type arrive in clusters, and Mason shares its sound world with a whole cohort of similar choices.
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
Mason
85%chance Mason feels dated by 2040
Mason is coming down from a big peak (#2 in 2011). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
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 Mason and Matthew in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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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 Mason and Matthew — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Mason or Matthew — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Mason or Matthew?
- Matthew, in 2025: Matthew ranked #32 with 7,003 babies; Mason ranked #39 with 6,291 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Mason or Matthew?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Mason moved down 28 places; Matthew moved down 2 places.
- Which is the older name, Mason or Matthew?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Mason and Matthew?
- About 334,000 people named Mason 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 Masons or Matthews in the classroom?
- Mason will almost certainly be the only one in school. 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
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