Matthieu
Masculine · “Hebrew "gift of Yahweh”
Matthieu is the French Matthew, and the name is a Hebrew sentence about giving. Mattityahu joins a word for gift to the divine name — a gift of Yah — which makes it one of a large family of Hebrew names ending in -yahu, alongside Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah and Zechariah.
How old is the name Matthieu?
Matthieu first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Matthieu alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 1,000 people named Matthieu are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Matthieu most popular?
Matthieu peaked in 1998, reaching #2394 nationally. Today it ranks #7194, 4,800 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From מַתִּתְיָהוּ (Mattityahu) to Matthieu
The story of Matthieu
Matthew the apostle and evangelist gave the name universal Christian currency, and every European language has a form: Matthieu and Mathieu in France, Matteo in Italy, Mateo in Spain, Mattias in Scandinavia, Matvey in Russia. The French spelling with the double t is the more traditional; Mathieu with one is now more common in France itself. American usage of Matthieu is small and reflects French-Canadian and Louisiana French descent as much as any fashion, peaking in 1998.
Meaning
Hebrew "gift of Yahweh"
From Mattityahu: mattat, a gift, plus yahu, a short form of the divine name. The Greek Matthaios shortened it, and Latin Matthaeus carried the doubled t that most European forms still show. Theodore, from Greek, means exactly the same thing by a different route — a gift of God — which is a nice coincidence of two languages arriving at one idea.
How the name formed
- מַתִּתְיָהוּMattityahu
- Matthaios
- Matthaeus
- Matthieu
Related forms: Mathieu · Matteo · Mateo · Матвей (Matvey) · מַתִּתְיָהוּ
Pronouncing Matthieu
mat-YUH
Two syllables in French with the stress on the second and a final vowel English does not have — closer to the u of French tu than to anything in English. American speakers say ma-THYOO, which is a reasonable approximation.
Nicknames for Matthieu
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 199836 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2394reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −15.4%11 in 2025, from 13
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.
Matthieu in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mathieu in French — spelling variant
- Matteo in Italian — same name
- Mateo in Spanish — same name
- Матвей (Matvey) in Russian — same name
- מַתִּתְיָהוּ in Hebrew — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Matthieus among us
people named Matthieu are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 155,280 born in 2025 was named Matthieu
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Matthieu
- #7194
- Matthieu on the 2025 chart
- #897
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Matthieu went to 11 boys in 2025, but Mathieu 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 — 6,297 places above the chart.
- Mathieu20
- Matthieu11
About 1 boy in 55,099 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 155,280 for Matthieu 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 Emeterio test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Matthieu's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Emeterio climbed just as high around 1934, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Emeterio's path sketches the road Matthieu is walking now.
Matthieu 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
Matthieu beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Matthieu in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The etymology is settled and unusually pleasing — a gift.
- Matt is the most universally understood short form available.
- The French spelling is genuine rather than a respelling.
- Matthew is far more common in America and will be assumed.
- The final French vowel is not producible in English.
- Mathieu with one t is the more common French spelling.
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What they receive
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Matthieu
Masculine · #7194 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Matthieus are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Matthieu are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Matthieu?
- Matthieu is one of 2 recorded spellings. Mathieu is the more common one — 20 births in 2025 against 11 for Matthieu.
- How popular is the name Matthieu in 2025?
- Matthieu ranks #7194 among US boy names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Matthieu?
- About 1 in every 155,280 US boys born in 2025 was named Matthieu — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Matthieu with classmates?
- Matthieu will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Matthieu
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Junius#7194 · Orie#7194 · Shade#7194 · Chesley#7194 · Joesph#7194 · Lofton#7194 · Macon#7194 · Benjiman#7194
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Matthieu? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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