The story in the numbers

1,646,990 boys have been named Matthew in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1983, with 50,208 births — 2.8% of all boys recorded that year.

It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 16 → 33).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1988, and the 1980s alone account for 28%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 69 of them in the top 100 and 37 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 5,575 girls have also been given it, 0.34% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

By decade

Decade

boys named Matthew

1,068

1,132

1,188

6,228

8,566

6,255

8,760

35,800

105,943

277,752

458,953

351,673

221,620

125,067

36,985

In 1983, its biggest year

Matthew was the 3rd most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1983 were Michael, Christopher, Matthew, David and Joshua. See all of 1983.

Names that rose and fell with Matthew

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.