Mattie
A diminutive form of the English feminine name Matilda or Matthew.
Name Census estimates that about 26,848 living Americans carry the first name Mattie. It is a predominantly female name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Mattie today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mattie births was 1920 (2,913 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mattie. 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 Mattie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Mattie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 780 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Mattie have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
27K
~ 1 in 12,766 Americans
Peak year
1920
2,913 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
1967 SSA rank
#1,057
Tracked since 1880
Census
Mattie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 28,507 people with the first name Mattie, which placed it at #1,291 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
#1,291
National first-name rank
People counted
29K
28,507 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
49.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mattie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mattie is Black at 49.0%. The next largest groups are White (45.0%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Mattie 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 Mattie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American49.0% · 13,975
- White45.0% · 12,819
- Two or more races2.8% · 787
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 588
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 249
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 89
Gender
Gender distribution for Mattie
Out of the 133,593 babies given the name Mattie since 1880, 99.4% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Mattie as a male name
- Ranked #4,347 in 1967
- 5 male births in 1967
- Peak: 1928 (37 births)
Mattie as a female name
- Ranked #1,057 in 2024
- 235 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (2,902 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mattie appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,503 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Mattie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mattie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 25,708 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mattie 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 Mattie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Matties live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Mattie, while South Dakota, Massachusetts, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,257 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mattie
The name Mattie is an English diminutive form of the name Matthew, which has its origins in the Hebrew name Mattityahu. Mattityahu is derived from the Hebrew words "mattat" meaning "gift" and "Yah" which is a shortened form of the Hebrew name for God. The name Matthew ultimately means "gift of God" or "gift from God."
Mattie first emerged as a nickname for Matthew in the Middle Ages, particularly in England and Scotland. It became a popular alternative to the more formal Matthew, especially among the working classes. The earliest known record of the name Mattie dates back to the 13th century.
In the 16th century, the name Mattie gained some prominence when it was used by the English poet and playwright Matthew "Mattie" Roydon, who was born around 1552. Another notable early bearer of the name was Mattie Pryor, an English servant who was involved in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a failed attempt to assassinate King James I of England.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Mattie was particularly popular in Scotland, where it was used as a diminutive for both Matthew and Martha. One of the most famous Scottish Matties was Mattie Cameron, a renowned bagpiper who lived from 1770 to 1835.
In the 19th century, the name Mattie gained popularity in the United States, particularly in the Southern states. One of the most well-known Matties from this period was Mattie Alie Stephenson, a Southern belle from Mississippi who was born in 1856 and became famous for her beauty and charm.
Another notable bearer of the name was Mattie Edwards Hewitt, an American photographer and one of the first women to work as a photojournalist. She was born in 1869 and documented many important events in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the 20th century, one of the most famous Matties was Mattie Stepanek, an American poet, peacemaker, and motivational speaker who was born in 1990 with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Despite his illness, he published several books of poetry and became a advocate for peace and unity before his death in 2004 at the age of 13.
People
Mattie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mattie 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
Mattie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mattie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26,848 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mattie 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 12,766 US residents.
Is Mattie a common name?
We classify Mattie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 133,593 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mattie most popular?
The single biggest year for Mattie was 1920, when 2,913 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mattie is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mattie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 28,507 people with the name Mattie, or 9.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,291 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 Mattie 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 Mattie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mattie appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,503 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Mattie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mattie is Black at 49.0%. The next largest groups are White (45.0%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Mattie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mattie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.0% (13,975 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 Mattie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mattie a female name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Mattie in the SSA data are female. 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 Mattie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mattie 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 Mattie 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 Mattie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.