Mat
Masculine
Mat is Matt with one t, and the difference is invisible in speech. The word it spells is one of the plainest in English and possibly one of the oldest things in the language that came from somewhere else.
How old is the name Mat?
Mat was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Mat alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 200 people named Mat are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mat most popular?
Mat peaked in 1880, reaching #442 nationally. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Mat
English got the word mat from Latin matta, and Latin is generally thought to have got it from a Semitic language, most likely through Carthage and the Phoenician trade, along with the article itself. That would make it one of the earliest loanwords in the language, arriving before English existed, sitting in Latin for centuries and then coming north with the Romans. Woven mats are among the oldest manufactured objects there are; archaeologists find impressions of them in fired clay from before pottery was invented. It is a very small word with an unusually long history, and it is doing exactly the same job now that it did then, which almost nothing else in the language can say.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Matthew is the usual parent and Matthias is possible, and both go back to a Hebrew name about a gift from God. This spelling is recorded on its own and the record does not say which longer name, if any, stands behind it.
Pronouncing Mat
MAT
One syllable. One t or two makes no difference whatever to the sound.
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191721 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #442reached in 1880
- Change vs 1985
- 0.0%5 in 2013, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Mats among us
people named Mat are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Mat sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Three letters and one syllable: nothing about it can be got wrong in speech.
- It works as a full name and as a short form, so a child can be formal or not as he chooses.
- It is thoroughly familiar to every English speaker without being common on a birth certificate.
- Matt is the standard spelling of the short form, and the second t will be added by nearly everyone.
- It is also an ordinary English noun, which children notice quickly and mention often.
- It reads as a short form to most people, so formal settings will keep asking what it stands for.
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Mat
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Mats are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Mat are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mat in 2025?
- Mat is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Mat with classmates?
- Mat will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Michael#21 · Matthew#32 · Mark#244 · Mason#39 · Martin#335 · Marvin#699 · Melvin#958 · Marcus#258
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mat? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mat and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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