Name Awesome

Matthews

#8,020 in 2025Boys' name

From Indonesian patronymic; literal meaning unconfirmed

Matthews has been given to 1,605 babies in the U.S. since 1882. In 2025 it ranked #8,020 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1988, with 41 recorded.

Babies named Matthews, 2025

1 in 332,000

Matthews over time, 1880–2025

Boys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Matthews: meaning, origin, and history

From Indonesian patronymic; literal meaning unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Matthews means

Matthews is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Matthews is used in English.

Matthews comes through Indonesian patronymic.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Matthews is pronounced /ˈmæθjuz/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,605 boys were recorded with the name Matthews between 1882 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 41 in 1988; its best national rank was #1,039 in 1882.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,176 in 2020 to #8,020 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,436 in 2015 to #8,020 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Matthews?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 332,000
10 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 171,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#8,020
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
229,791 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Matthews sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Matthews. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Matthewss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Matthews was born before 1979 — so the typical Matthews is around 46 today.

Median birth year
1979
About 46 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
16.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
20.0%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,178
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 16.8% of all recorded uses (269).

Is Matthews rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−3,373
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,844
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,584
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.59×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
24.4%
Peak was 1988 (41)
Years since peak
37
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
39.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,039
1882

Spellings of Matthews

Matthews is not the most common spelling — Matthew is, with 94.5% against Matthews's 0.09%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Matthews is used

Across 1910–2025, Matthews was most concentrated in Louisiana — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 563,636 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Louisiana1 in 50,000
  2. 2California1 in —
  3. 3Georgia1 in —
  4. 4Massachusetts1 in —
  5. 5North Carolina1 in —
  6. 6New York1 in —
  7. 7South Carolina1 in —
  8. 8Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Matthews has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Matthews around the world

Where Matthews ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2009–2016
    #4,023
    in 2016
  • France
    1989–2018
    #5,786
    in 2018
  • South Australia
    1956–1956
    #408
    in 1956

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Matthews by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#8,020
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,844
Best rank ever
#1,039
1882
Peak year
1988
41 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,605
Count in 2025
10

Names similar to Matthews

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

MathewsMatthieuMatheusMateuszMathieuMattiasMathisMathayusMattewMatheoMateusMattheusMatthiasMatisseMattheoMattoxMatthanMateenMattixMathiusMattisMatanMattiaMathias

Sibling names for Matthews

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Matthews

Top names of 1988, Matthews's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1882Boys' names starting with M