Matias
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 22,457 living Americans carry the first name Matias. It sits at #158 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Matias today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Matias births was 2024 (2,268 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Matias. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Matias with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Matias is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
22K
~ 1 in 15,263 Americans
Peak year
2024
2,268 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#158
Tracked since 1904
Census
Matias in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,805 people with the first name Matias, which placed it at #1,911 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,911
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
14,805 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
88.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Matias
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Matias is Hispanic at 88.3%. The next largest groups are White (8.2%) and Black (1.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Matias described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Matias at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino88.3% · 13,074
- White8.2% · 1,214
- Black or African American1.6% · 243
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 134
- Two or more races0.7% · 99
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 41
Gender
Gender distribution for Matias
Out of the 23,249 babies given the name Matias since 1880, 100.0% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Matias as a male name
- Ranked #158 in 2024
- 2,263 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (2,263 births)
Matias as a female name
- Ranked #16,779 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Matias appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,809 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Matias: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Matias from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 9,885 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Matias by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Matias during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Matias' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Matias, while South Dakota, Mississippi, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 499 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Matias
The name Matias has its origins in the Hebrew name Mattityahu, which means "gift of Yahweh" or "gift of God". It is a variant of the name Matthew, which was popular among early Christian communities. The name Matias gained widespread use during the Middle Ages, particularly in Spain and Portugal.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Matias can be found in the New Testament of the Bible. In the Acts of the Apostles, Matias was one of the disciples chosen to replace Judas Iscariot after his betrayal of Jesus Christ. This biblical reference contributed to the popularity of the name among Christian communities.
During the Medieval period, the name Matias was commonly used in Spain and Portugal. One notable figure was Matias de Albuquerque, a Portuguese explorer and military commander who lived from 1453 to 1515. He played a crucial role in the Portuguese conquest of India and the establishment of Portuguese colonies in the Indian Ocean region.
In the 16th century, Matias de Novoa (1505-1591) was a Spanish nobleman and diplomat who served as the ambassador of Spain to the Holy Roman Empire. He was known for his diplomatic skills and played a significant role in maintaining relations between Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor.
Another historical figure was Matias Delio (1688-1776), an Italian painter and engraver from Naples. He was renowned for his religious paintings and engravings, which adorned many churches and monasteries in Italy during the Baroque period.
In the 19th century, Matias Romero (1837-1898) was a Mexican diplomat and politician who served as the Minister of Finance and later as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He played a crucial role in resolving the long-standing dispute between Mexico and the United States over the Gadsden Purchase.
Matias Errazuriz (1776-1860) was a Chilean politician and statesman who served as the President of Chile from 1851 to 1861. He is remembered for his efforts to modernize the country's infrastructure and promote economic development during his presidency.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Matias. The name has endured for centuries, transcending cultures and regions, and continues to be used in various parts of the world today.
People
Matias + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Matias as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Matias: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Matias?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22,457 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Matias going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 15,263 US residents.
Is Matias a common name?
We classify Matias as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 23,249 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Matias most popular?
The single biggest year for Matias was 2024, when 2,268 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Matias is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Matias in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,805 people with the name Matias, or 4.90 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,911 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Matias in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Matias?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Matias appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,809 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Matias?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Matias is Hispanic at 88.3%. The next largest groups are White (8.2%) and Black (1.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Matias most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Matias in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.3% (13,074 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Matias in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Matias a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Matias in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Matias still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Matias in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Matias can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Matias?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Matias at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.