Matthieu
A masculine name of French and Hebrew origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,024 living Americans carry the first name Matthieu. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Matthieu today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Matthieu births was 1998 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Matthieu. 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 Matthieu with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 334,721 Americans
Peak year
1998
36 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,080
Tracked since 1971
Census
Matthieu in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,304 people with the first name Matthieu, which placed it at #10,290 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
#10,290
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,304 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Matthieu
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Matthieu is White at 65.1%. The next largest groups are Black (13.0%) and Hispanic (11.0%). 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 Matthieu 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 Matthieu at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.1% · 849
- Black or African American13.0% · 170
- Hispanic or Latino11.0% · 143
- Two or more races5.8% · 75
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 10
Popularity
Matthieu: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Matthieu from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 265 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Matthieu remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Matthieu 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 Matthieu during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Matthieus live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Matthieu, while Texas, Florida, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Matthieu
The name Matthieu originates from the Hebrew name Matityahu, which means "gift of God". It is the French form of the Latin name Matthaeus, which comes from the Greek Maththaios, a translation of the Hebrew Matityahu. The name can be traced back to the 1st century AD and the biblical figure Matthew the Apostle and evangelist.
The name Matthieu gained popularity in France during the Middle Ages, with early recorded examples dating back to the 12th century. It was particularly common among the French nobility and aristocracy. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Matthieu de Vendôme, a 12th-century French poet and scholar.
During the Renaissance period, the name Matthieu was associated with several notable figures, including Matthieu Plantavit de la Pause (1606-1689), a French prelate and diplomat who served as Bishop of Lodève. Another prominent bearer of the name was Matthieu Molé (1584-1656), a French magistrate and statesman who served as First President of the Parlement of Paris.
In the 17th century, the French philosopher and mathematician Matthieu Laubespine de Châteauneuf (1622-1689) made significant contributions to the development of calculus and the study of curves. Matthieu Ricard (1663-1737), a French Benedictine monk and scholar, was known for his work on the history of the Benedictine order.
In more recent times, the name Matthieu has been carried by several notable figures, including Matthieu Ricard (born 1946), a French Buddhist monk, author, and photographer. Matthieu Chedid (born 1971), better known by his stage name -M-, is a French singer-songwriter and guitarist.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Matthieu, a name with a rich cultural heritage and a long-standing tradition in the French-speaking world.
People
Matthieu + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Matthieu 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
Matthieu: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Matthieu?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,024 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Matthieu 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 334,721 US residents.
Is Matthieu a common name?
We classify Matthieu as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,045 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Matthieu most popular?
The single biggest year for Matthieu was 1998, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Matthieu is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Matthieu in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,304 people with the name Matthieu, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,290 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 Matthieu 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 Matthieu?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Matthieu appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,304 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Matthieu?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Matthieu is White at 65.1%. The next largest groups are Black (13.0%) and Hispanic (11.0%). 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 Matthieu most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Matthieu in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.1% (849 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 Matthieu in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Matthieu a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Matthieu 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 Matthieu still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Matthieu 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 Matthieu 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 people are named Matthieu?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Matthieu, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.