Head to head · Boys' names
Matthew vs Owen
#32 vs #31 in 2025
Owen is a whisker ahead (#31 vs #32 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Owen is stepping back from its peak, Matthew is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Matthew has the edge.
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
The tape is even: Matthew and Owen each lead 2 measures of 6.
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: Matthew #130, Owen #175 — Matthew higher
- 1890s: Matthew #140, Owen #190 — Matthew higher
- 1900s: Matthew #167, Owen #205 — Matthew higher
- 1910s: Matthew #152, Owen #215 — Matthew higher
- 1920s: Matthew #172, Owen #224 — Matthew higher
- 1930s: Matthew #201, Owen #263 — Matthew higher
- 1940s: Matthew #193, Owen #314 — Matthew higher
- 1950s: Matthew #113, Owen #367 — Matthew higher
- 1960s: Matthew #42, Owen #461 — Matthew higher
- 1970s: Matthew #11, Owen #462 — Matthew higher
- 1980s: Matthew #3, Owen #427 — Matthew higher
- 1990s: Matthew #3, Owen #348 — Matthew higher
- 2000s: Matthew #6, Owen #79 — Matthew higher
- 2010s: Matthew #16, Owen #34 — Matthew higher
- 2020s: Matthew #34, Owen #23 — Owen higher
Matthew stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Owen took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Matthew | Owen |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #130 | #175 |
| 1890s | #140 | #190 |
| 1900s | #167 | #205 |
| 1910s | #152 | #215 |
| 1920s | #172 | #224 |
| 1930s | #201 | #263 |
| 1940s | #193 | #314 |
| 1950s | #113 | #367 |
| 1960s | #42 | #461 |
| 1970s | #11 | #462 |
| 1980s | #3 | #427 |
| 1990s | #3 | #348 |
| 2000s | #6 | #79 |
| 2010s | #16 | #34 |
| 2020s | #34 | #23 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Matthew
- Canada#62
- Scotland#79
Owen
- Canada#22
- France#72
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Owen
Either "well-born" or "born of Esus" — the two readings compete
One line traces Welsh Owain to the Latin name Eugenius, from Greek roots meaning "well-born, noble"; the other traces it to a native Celtic form, *Esugenos, "born of the god Esus." Both are taken seriously by scholars of Welsh, and the two may have influenced each other early on. The Irish cousin Eoghan is caught in the same debate, sometimes additionally linked to the yew tree.
Eugenius → Eugein → Owain → Owen
How it traveled
The name begins in Wales as Owain, appearing in early forms such as Ouein and Eugein in medieval Welsh records. It belonged to princes and to story: the Arthurian Owain, knight of the lion, whose tale travels into Old French as Yvain.
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
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.
Owen
OH-en
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some speakers reduce the second to OH-in. Either way, the spelling gives the sound away, which spares a lifetime of corrections.
- Owie — An affectionate household form, used mostly with small children and rarely outside the family.
- O — Initial-based, informal, the kind of thing that comes from teammates and classmates rather than from parents.
Who has carried each name
Matthew
Matthew McConaughey (b. 1969) — Oscar winner (Dallas Buyers Club)
Matthew Perry (b. 1969) — Friends' Chandler Bing
Matthew Broderick (b. 1962) — Ferris Bueller himself
Owen
Owen Wilson (b. 1968) — Wedding Crashers star with the trademark "wow"
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 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 81% for Owen
Choose Owen if you want…
- a name that feels very nowOwen is stepping back from its peak
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
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.
Owen
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds, and short enough that it needs no nickname to be usable — a child can write it early.
- A documented history in Welsh going back to the medieval period, with the name still in living use there in its original form, Owain.
- Works across languages: it also charts in Canada and France, and has recognizable relatives in Irish, Gaelic and Breton.
To consider
- It rose sharply and only recently, so most Owens alive are still young. For a while the name will read as belonging to children rather than to grown men.
- It sits in a crowded sound-family — Ewan, Eoin, Rowan, Ronan, Roman — and mix-ups within that group are more likely than outright misspellings.
- The meaning is genuinely unsettled, so if a firm translation matters to you, this name will not give you one.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
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.
Owen
81%chance Owen feels dated by 2040
Owen is coming down from a big peak (#18 in 2022). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
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 Matthew and Owen 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 Matthew and Owen?
Put both to the vote.
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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 Matthew and Owen — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Matthew or Owen — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Matthew or Owen?
- Owen, in 2025: Owen ranked #31 with 7,190 babies; Matthew ranked #32 with 7,003 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Matthew or Owen?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Matthew moved down 2 places; Owen moved down 9 places.
- Which is the older name, Matthew or Owen?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Matthew and Owen?
- About 1,536,000 people named Matthew are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 224,000 people named Owen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Matthews or Owens in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Matthew. Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Owen.
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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