Head to head · Boys' names
Matthew vs Thomas
#32 vs #34 in 2025
Matthew is a whisker ahead (#32 vs #34 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Matthew is holding its place on the charts, Thomas is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Thomas 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
On the charts, Matthew leads 4 measures of 6; Thomas leads 1.
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, Thomas #10 — Thomas higher
- 1890s: Matthew #140, Thomas #12 — Thomas higher
- 1900s: Matthew #167, Thomas #11 — Thomas higher
- 1910s: Matthew #152, Thomas #10 — Thomas higher
- 1920s: Matthew #172, Thomas #11 — Thomas higher
- 1930s: Matthew #201, Thomas #9 — Thomas higher
- 1940s: Matthew #193, Thomas #8 — Thomas higher
- 1950s: Matthew #113, Thomas #8 — Thomas higher
- 1960s: Matthew #42, Thomas #10 — Thomas higher
- 1970s: Matthew #11, Thomas #21 — Matthew higher
- 1980s: Matthew #3, Thomas #24 — Matthew higher
- 1990s: Matthew #3, Thomas #28 — Matthew higher
- 2000s: Matthew #6, Thomas #43 — Matthew higher
- 2010s: Matthew #16, Thomas #55 — Matthew higher
- 2020s: Matthew #34, Thomas #42 — Matthew higher
Thomas stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Matthew has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Matthew | Thomas |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #130 | #10 |
| 1890s | #140 | #12 |
| 1900s | #167 | #11 |
| 1910s | #152 | #10 |
| 1920s | #172 | #11 |
| 1930s | #201 | #9 |
| 1940s | #193 | #8 |
| 1950s | #113 | #8 |
| 1960s | #42 | #10 |
| 1970s | #11 | #21 |
| 1980s | #3 | #24 |
| 1990s | #3 | #28 |
| 2000s | #6 | #43 |
| 2010s | #16 | #55 |
| 2020s | #34 | #42 |
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
Thomas
- Canada#10
- Scotland#21
- England & Wales#26
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.
Thomas
twin
Aramaic te'oma, a twin. The Gospel of John glosses it with the Greek word for the same thing, Didymos, which is how the meaning is known with certainty rather than reconstructed. Nobody records whose twin he was.
te'oma → Thomas
How it traveled
The Nag Hammadi find changed the study of early Christianity. The Thomas text has no narrative, no crucifixion and no resurrection — only sayings, about half of which have parallels in the familiar Gospels and half of which do not — and scholars have argued ever since about whether it preserves early material or reworks it.
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.
Thomas
TOM-us
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the th said as a plain t. French says it the same way; Spanish moves the weight to the second, to-MAS. The h has been silent in English for centuries.
- Tom — The default in English; plain, adult, and a full name in its own right for many men.
- Tommy — The warm form; also British army slang for an ordinary soldier.
- Tomas — The Spanish and Irish form, used as a formal version in those families.
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
Thomas
Thomas Edison (b. 1847) — Held over 1,000 patents, including the light bulb
Thomas Jefferson (b. 1743) — Wrote the Declaration of Independence
Thomas Paine (b. 1737) — His pamphlet Common Sense sparked a revolution
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…
- a name holding steadyMatthew is holding its place on the charts
Choose Thomas if you want…
- a name on the way upup 11 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooThomas is on the national lists of Canada, Scotland and England & Wales
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.
Thomas
Strengths
- A meaning the source text states outright rather than leaving to be reconstructed.
- The same or nearly the same spelling in French, Spanish, Irish, Portuguese and German.
- Three short forms, one of which is a full name in its own right.
To consider
- It is one of the most given names in the English-speaking world and has been for centuries.
- Tom is what most people will use, so it is worth liking the short form.
- The phrase about doubting will be made at some point, usually as a joke.
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 Matthew and Thomas 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 Thomas?
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 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
- Names that never go out of style
- America's top 100 names right now
- The top-10 club: every name that made it
- all guides
Every list here names both Matthew and Thomas — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Matthew or Thomas — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Matthew or Thomas?
- Matthew, in 2025: Matthew ranked #32 with 7,003 babies; Thomas ranked #34 with 6,917 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Matthew or Thomas?
- Thomas. Over the last five years Matthew moved down 2 places; Thomas moved up 11 places.
- Which is the older name, Matthew or Thomas?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Matthew and Thomas?
- About 1,536,000 people named Matthew are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 1,497,000 people named Thomas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Matthews or Thomass in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Matthew. Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Thomas.
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
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