Matthias
Masculine · “Gift of Yahweh”
Matthias is the Greek form of a Hebrew name, carried into Europe by the earliest Christian texts and then kept in steady use for two thousand years — in German-speaking lands, in Scandinavia, in Hungary as Mátyás. It has three syllables that land firmly in the middle, and it collapses without effort into Matt.
How old is the name Matthias?
Matthias was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Matthias is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 13,000 people named Matthias are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Matthias most popular?
Matthias peaked in 2025, reaching #372 nationally. Today it ranks #372, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From Mattityahu to Matthias
The story of Matthias
The Hebrew name Mattityahu reached Greek in two shapes, Matthaios and Matthias, and both survived. Matthias is the one used in the Acts of the Apostles for the man chosen by lot to fill the twelfth place after Judas, which fixed the spelling in Latin scripture and sent it across Christian Europe. From there it settled into local forms: Mátyás in Hungary, worn by King Matthias Corvinus in the fifteenth century; Matthias in the German lands, including a Holy Roman Emperor of that name in the early seventeenth; Matías in Spanish, Matthijs in Dutch. American use runs largely through German, Dutch and Scandinavian families, and the name has been on the records here since record-keeping began.
Meaning
Gift of Yahweh
From Hebrew Mattityahu, from mattath 'gift' and the divine name. Matthew comes from the same Hebrew source through a slightly different Greek spelling, which is why the two names look and mean so much alike.
How the name formed
- Mattityahu
- MatthiasGreek
- MatthiasLatin
- Mathias
- Matthias
Related forms: Matthias · Matías · Mátyás · Matthijs · Mattias · Mathias
Pronouncing Matthias
muh-THY-us
That is the usual English reading. German and Scandinavian speakers say mah-TEE-ahs, and Spanish Matías is mah-TEE-as; families with those ties often keep their own version, so it is worth deciding early which one you will offer when introducing him.
Nicknames for Matthias
High
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
- 2025854 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #372reached in 2025
- Change vs 2023
- +36.0%854 in 2025, from 628
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.
Matthias in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Matthias in German — same name
- Matías in Spanish — same name
- Mátyás in Hungarian — same name
- Matthijs in Dutch — same name
- Mattias in Swedish — spelling variant
- Mathias in French — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Matthiass among us
people named Matthias are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,000 born in 2025 was named Matthias
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Matthias
- #372
- Matthias on the 2025 chart
- #195
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Matthias went to 854 boys in 2025, but Mathias is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 1,941, which makes it the 195th most-given boys’ name of the year — 177 places above the chart.
- Mathias1,087
- Matthias854
About 1 boy in 880 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 2,000 for Matthias 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 Jadon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Matthias's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jadon climbed just as high around 2003, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jadon's path sketches the road Matthias is walking now.
Matthias 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
Where Matthias is headed
Matthias should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Matthias beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Matthias in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ready-made short forms: Matt and Matty are already understood everywhere in English, with no explaining required.
- Recognizable across German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Hungarian and Spanish-speaking families, in forms close enough to be identified as the same name.
- A documented line running from Hebrew through Greek and Latin into modern European languages, unbroken for two thousand years.
- Familiar in sound because of Matthew, yet rarely duplicated in a single classroom.
- It is constantly heard as Matthew, and Matt belongs to both. If the full form matters to you, expect to correct people for years — and to hear him introduced as Matt anyway.
- Two spellings compete, Matthias and Mathias, and two pronunciations do as well: muh-THY-us in English, mah-TEE-as in German and Scandinavian mouths. Neither is wrong, which is precisely why both keep coming back.
- Its recent American growth means most people carrying it here are still young; the name reads as newer in the US than its long European history suggests.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Matthias to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Matthias? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Matthias
Masculine · #372 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Matthiass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,000 people named Matthias are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Matthias?
- Matthias is one of 2 recorded spellings. Mathias is the more common one — 1,087 births in 2025 against 854 for Matthias.
- How popular is the name Matthias in 2025?
- Matthias ranks #372 among US boy names in 2025, with 854 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Matthias?
- About 1 in every 2,000 US boys born in 2025 was named Matthias — 854 in all.
- Will my child share the name Matthias with classmates?
- Matthias will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Matthias
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Grady#373 · Manuel#371 · Marco#370 · Forrest#374 · Miller#369 · Kayce#375 · Desmond#376 · Andre#368
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Matthias? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Matthias and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle