Mathieu
Masculine · “gift of God”
Mathieu is France's Matthew, and Matthew is a gift: the Hebrew Mattityahu says that God gave. The apostle who carried it had been a tax collector, which the Gospel that bears his name mentions without softening, and the name has been ordinary in French for eight hundred years.
How old is the name Mathieu?
Mathieu first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Mathieu alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 2,300 people named Mathieu are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mathieu most popular?
Mathieu peaked in 1998, reaching #1465 nationally. Today it ranks #4857, 3,392 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mattityahu to Mathieu
The story of Mathieu
Matthew was among the most-given names in medieval Europe, carried by the evangelist whose Gospel opens the New Testament. French reduced the Latin form to Mathieu and Matthieu, both of which are standard, and the name traveled with French to Quebec, Acadia, Louisiana, Belgium and West Africa. In American records it appears with French-Canadian and Louisiana families and, more recently, with Haitian and West African ones, where French remains the language of documents.
Meaning
gift of God
Hebrew Mattityahu, from mattan, a gift, joined to Yahu, a short form of the divine name. Greek shortened it to Matthaios and Latin to Matthaeus, from which French made Mathieu.
How the name formed
- Mattityahu
- Matthaios
- Matthaeus
- Mathieu
Related forms: Matthew · Mateo · Matteo · Matthias · Mateus · Matvey
Pronouncing Mathieu
mah-TYUH
Two syllables in French with the stress at the end and the final sound a light -yuh rather than -yoo. English speakers usually say MATH-yoo, and French-speaking families in America generally accept both.
Nicknames for Mathieu
Moderate
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
- 1955
- Most boys named
- 199876 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1465reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −20.0%20 in 2025, from 25
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.
Mathieu in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Matthew in English — same name
- Mateo in Spanish — same name
- Matteo in Italian — same name
- Matthias in German — related form
- Mateus in Portuguese — same name
- Matvey in Russian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Arizona, California.
Mathieus among us
people named Mathieu are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was named Mathieu
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mathieu
- #4857
- Mathieu on the 2025 chart
- #897
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mathieu went to 20 boys in 2025, but Matthieu is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 31, which makes it the 897th most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,960 places above the chart.
- Mathieu20
- Matthieu11
About 1 boy in 55,099 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 85,404 for Mathieu itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Termaine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mathieu's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Termaine climbed just as high around 1982, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Termaine's path sketches the road Mathieu is walking now.
Mathieu 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Mathieu beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mathieu in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is the same name as Matthew, so it is legible everywhere while looking distinct.
- Matt is available as a short form that needs no explaining at all.
- It keeps a French-speaking family line visible on a document.
- American forms will default to Matthew, and the correction becomes routine.
- The French ending is difficult for English speakers, so the name is regularly said MATH-yoo.
- Mathieu and Matthieu are both standard in French, so spellings within a family may differ.
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Mathieu
Masculine · #4857 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mathieus are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Mathieu are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mathieu?
- Mathieu is the most-used spelling in US records — 20 of the 31 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Matthieu.
- How popular is the name Mathieu in 2025?
- Mathieu ranks #4857 among US boy names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mathieu?
- About 1 in every 85,404 US boys born in 2025 was named Mathieu — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mathieu with classmates?
- Mathieu will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mathieu
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carlyle#4857 · Russ#4857 · Hercules#4857 · Marcial#4857 · Lauro#4857 · Marin#4857 · Gil#4857 · Aloysius#4857
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mathieu? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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